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Invisible, Indispensable Infrastructure

Our world is supported by infrastructure that no one can see. It keeps computer and communication networks running. It detects hurricanes and wildfires as they form and tracks the carbon driving climate change. It guides ships and aircraft, connects homes and schools, battles disease and uncovers illegal activity.

Unlike other infrastructure, it consumes no concrete or asphalt and needs no heavy steel beams for support. It circles the entire Earth, but your eyes never see it nor do your fingers ever touch it. It is the network of communication and observation satellites orbiting the world, thousands in number and growing fast. Day in and day out, they generate knowledge, share information and experiences and help protect, feed, inform and connect us. Without the invisible, indispensable infrastructure of satellite, life as we know it would be impossible.

 

Podcast

Invisible, Indispensable Infrastructure, Episode 4: Satellites as Infrastructure

It’s an exciting time to be a part of the space and satellite industry. Launches are happening every day from New Zealand to Florida. The ground systems are going virtual. We have software-defined satellite. And all of these changes are coming together to impact the way satellites interact with infrastructure. As an industry, we are now in a place where we are augmenting and sometimes even supplanting terrestrial infrastructure.

In the fourth podcast of the Invisible, Indispensable Infrastructure podcast series, we explore this topic in-depth with a panel of five women experts from SSPI-WISE (SSPI Women in Space Engagement). This episode is based on the recent SSPI-WISE online conversation, Satellites as Infrastructure, that took place on April 25, 2024.

Our expert panel includes: Toni Lee Rudnicki, Fractional COM/Founder, TLR Consulting LLC and Elevating Women Working Group Co-Chair (moderator); Haley Bauser, Senior Product Engineer, Varda Space Industries; Beatrice Mok, Corporate Development Director, Kacific; Caroline Reid, Spacecraft Operations Engineer, Rocket Lab; and Sarah Tulaimat, Senior Account Manager, Appliot.

This podcast series is underwritten

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Invisible, Indispensable Infrastructure NOW

Satellites as Infrastructure

It’s an exciting time to be a part of the space and satellite industry. Launches are happening every day from New Zealand to Florida. The ground systems are going virtual. We have software-defined satellite. And all of these changes are coming together to impact the way satellites interact with infrastructure. As an industry, we are now in a place where we are augmenting and sometimes even supplanting terrestrial infrastructure.

At the April 2024 SSPI-WISE meeting, we explored this topic in-depth with a panel of five women experts.

Videos

The Better Satellite World campaign shows the world why our industry, though often invisible, is indispensable to modern life, through powerful stories and videos that depict space and satellite technologies contributing to the economy, society and sustainability of planet Earth. Watch the videos below to learn about just a few of the ways satellites support modern life: