SSPI

Defense of space begins long before launch. It depends on the industrial base that can deliver components, ground systems, financing, insurance, contracting, manufacturing capacity, and commercial services when national-security missions need them.    In The Industrial Base Behind Defense of Space, SSPI and the New York Space Business Roundtable convene an in-person discussion at Milbank in Hudson Yards. Moderator Tamara Bond-Williams speaks with Zack Hester of Novaspace, Quadri Bello of Empire Space, Col. Tim Trimailo of Space Systems Command, David Myers of Applied Aerospace and Defense, Chris Kunstadter of Triton Space, and Dara Panahy of Milbank.    The conversation asks where commercial space can move faster, where contracts and capital create bottlenecks, how insurance and flight heritage shape risk, and what the Northeast can contribute to a more resilient defense space ecosystem.    The video release appears in two parts. The podcast release presents one continuous audio episode with the David Myers cold open and a separately produced intermission. 

What does it take to build a space economy?    Dr. Barbara Ghinelli has spent more than 15 years working on that question. As Director of Innovation Clusters and Harwell Campus at UKRI-STFC, she has helped develop the Harwell Space Cluster and founded the new UK Space and Defence Gateway.    In this episode of SSPI's 2026 UK Space and Satellite Personality of the Year nominee series, Barbara joins Executive Director Tamara Bond-Williams to explore what makes clusters work, why investment needs its own ecosystem, and what the UK needs to turn extraordinary innovation into companies capable of growing at industrial scale.    Barbara also explains why the next evolution of clusters may require stronger connections across sectors and regions, what she believes the UK Space and Satellite Personality of the Year should champion, and why human spaceflight requires a fundamental shift toward designing for failure as well as success. 

Bricks, Satellites and Space Safety  What does a failed satellite have to do with the Space Safety Economy?  In Episode 5 of Are We There Yet?, Tamara Bond-Williams speaks with Carol Craig, Founder and CEO of Sidus Space and Founder and CEO of Craig Technologies, about how safety is designed, tested, operated and valued inside real space missions.  Carol shares lessons from Sidus Space's LizzieSat missions, including why safety starts on the ground, why on-orbit learning matters and why software-defined satellites can preserve mission value after launch. The conversation explores redundancy, maneuverability, mission operations, autonomy, hyperspectral imaging, customer value and the importance of protecting the shared orbital environment.  Carol also points toward one of the key future markets in space safety: standardization. As on-orbit servicing, repair and deorbit capabilities develop, satellites will need standardized physical and communications interfaces that make those services practical, affordable and widely usable.  Sponsored by the American Space Exploration Children's Trust Fund. 

Europe cannot build space resilience by trying to own every element itself. Sovereignty now depends on trusted access, interoperability, and a commercial ecosystem that can adapt as quickly as the threat environment.  In Episode 3 of Collateral Risk, SSPI Executive Director Tamara Bond-Williams speaks with Prof. Dr.-Ing. Chiara Manfletti, CEO of Neuraspace and Professor at the Technical University of Munich, about sovereignty and self-sufficiency in a rapidly changing space sector.    Manfletti explains why civilian and military space cannot be cleanly separated; why resilience depends on the entire chain from launch and ground systems to cloud services and data; and how Europe can combine public purpose with commercial speed and innovation.    In this conversation:  Why the civil-military boundary is partly artificial in hardware but still matters in law and responsibility  Why protecting the satellite is insufficient when the attack surface is the full service ecosystem  How modular sovereignty can replace the goal of complete technological self-sufficiency  How government procurement can create market pull for resilient commercial services  How primes, startups, universities, agencies, and commercial operators can reinforce one another   Collateral Risk is part of SSPI's Defense of Space campaign within the Better Satellite World initiative.    Like this content? Subscribe to the SSPI Podcast 

Space systems underpin modern life, national security, and the global economy - but defending space requires resilience far beyond the satellite itself.  In this Defense of Space episode, SSPI rebroadcasts an SSPI-WISE conversation moderated by Katina Mruk with Jennifer Jeffries of the U.S. Space Force Commercial Integration Cell, Darren McKnight of LeoLabs, and Ambericent "Amber" Cornett of ChameleCo. Together, they examine persistent orbital intelligence, cybersecurity and quantum technologies, commercial-military integration, information sharing, policy, culture, and the human side of space safety.  The panel's central message is clear: commercial capability cannot be treated as a backup plan, and technology alone cannot create resilience. Effective defense depends on trusted partnerships, shared language, timely information, and people who can work across organizational and national boundaries.  This conversation was originally presented as an SSPI-WISE All-Members Meeting on July 23, 2026.