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Untangling the Supply Chain Campaign

The pandemic was expected to put a sharp dent in economic activity. It did for many industries and places – by closing factories and emptying out business districts, restaurants, hotels, sports stadiums and entertainment venues. But it also brought unexpected surges in online shopping and home renovation that caught supply chains by surprise and caused massive delays in shipping. The space and satellite industry was not immune. Depending on global networks of technology suppliers, manufacturing of rockets, spacecraft and ground technology were all affected. In Untangling the Supply Chain, SSPI explores two related issues in a series of podcasts, webinars, videos and articles. MORE

 

Untangling the Supply Chain is underwritten by

Podcast

Every Monday during the Untangling the Supply Chain campaign, you’ll get to listen to a new podcast, featuring experts on a wide variety of supply chain navigation and management topics. 

Untangling the Supply Chain, Episode 6: If Taiwan Goes, Does Commercial Space Go With It?

The bombs falling in Ukraine have raised major geopolitical issues in Asia. One in particular will seriously impact the future of the commercial space industry. Taiwan’s significance to the world’s supply chain, high-value technology base, microprocessors and the civil life and laws upon which democracy depends are not always considered when we casually ask, “If Taiwan Goes, What Else Goes With It?” Could the industry be a casualty of a Chinese invasion? In this podcast, based on the May 2022 edition of the New York Space Business Roundtable, our guests describe what is really at stake. The conversation is moderated by SSPI’s Lou Zacharilla and NY Space Alliance Founder Joseph Fargnoli, with a special report by SpaceNews reporter Jason Rainbow.

Guests for this podcast include:

  • Dr. Ting-Jung (TJ) Liang, Principal Engineer, Long Range Communications Technology, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Taiwan
  • N. Darius Sankey, PhD., Managing Director, Innovation Acceleration Capital
  • Dr. Robert Spalding, Co-CEO, Q-Networks, author, STEALTH WAR: HOW CHINA TOOK OVER WHILE AMERICA’S ELITE SLEPT (Portfolio; 2019)
  • Thomas Yen, CEO & Co-Founder, Tensor Tech

Untangling the Supply Chain NOW

The Orbiter: Satellites Untangling the Supply Chain

New York Space Business Roundtable: If Taiwan Goes, Does Commercial Space Go with It?

The bombs falling in Ukraine have raised major geopolitical issues in Asia. One in particular will seriously impact the future of the commercial space industry. Taiwan’s significance to the world’s supply chain, high-value technology base, microprocessors and the civil life and laws upon which democracy depends are not always considered when we casually ask, “If Taiwan Goes, What Else Goes With It?” Could the industry be a casualty of a Chinese invasion? In this important discussion of the Roundtable, author and Brigadier General (Ret.) Robert Spalding, Innovation Acceleration Capital’s Darius Sankey, Tensor Tech CEO Thomas Yen and Dr. T.J. Liang of Taipei’s Industrial Technology Research Institute, a government think tank, describe what is REALLY at stake. Moderated by SSPI’s Lou Zacharilla and NY Space Alliance Founder Joseph Fargnoli, with special reports by SpaceNews reporters Jason Rainbow and Debra Werner. If you missed this May 18 edition of the New York Space Business Roundtable, check it out on-demand now.

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. Several of our Better Satellite World videos focus on the topic of supply chain and how the space & satellite industry navigates the intricacies of ensuring access to required materials and services.

Coming Up Next

Thank you for joining SSPI and Airbus OneWeb Satellites for Untangling the Supply Chain!

News

SSPI Launches Untangling the Supply Chain, a Six-Week Online Exploration of How the Space & Satellite Industry Makes Supply Chains Work and Copes with Disruptions – May 2, 2022

Seeking growth in unpredictable times: A conversation with SES CEO Steve Collar – SpaceNews – April 18, 2022

The Pandemic’s Nerd Celebrities – The New York Times – April 8, 2022

Data providers overcome connectivity gaps to keep supply chains running – Connectivity Business News – March 31, 2022

NSR Satellite & Space Market Survey: War in Ukraine & Russian Economic Sanctions Impacts – Northern Sky Research – March 2022

The Changing Satellite Supply Chain – Northern Sky Research – September 8, 2021

About the Untangling the Supply Chain Campaign

The pandemic was expected to put a sharp dent in economic activity. It did for many industries and places – by closing factories and emptying out business districts, restaurants, hotels, sports stadiums and entertainment venues. But it also brought unexpected surges in online shopping and home renovation that caught supply chains by surprise and caused massive delays in shipping. Emergence from lockdowns only added to the pressures, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine gave supply chains a final tangling twist as access to raw materials, food, technology and even rocket launches were put at risk.

The space and satellite industry was not immune. Depending on global networks of technology suppliers, manufacturing of rockets, spacecraft and ground technology were all affected. The single most dramatic example has been the stranding of dozens of OneWeb satellites ready for launch from Baikonur in Kazakstan in response to the Ukraine crisis. But, large or small, the disruptions have challenged an industry whose products and services are indispensable to the world to keep producing.

In Untangling the Supply Chain, SSPI explores two related issues in a series of podcasts, webinars, videos and articles. The first is how space and satellite is copying with sometimes dramatic supply chain problems. But this also provides a chance to examine one more hidden contribution that the industry makes to the world: providing the communications and information that makes supply chains run more efficiently and effectively in good times and bad.