On Orbit

What can the hostile environment of the Arctic teach us about space? David Marsh recently returned from a first-hand journey to find out. He joins On Orbit this week after wrapping up an Arctic expedition where he spent 29 days skiing more than 560 kilometers across Greenland with a group of researchers.  Over the trip he worked on a number of research projects like investigating the use of LEO sa...

Over just a few years, the ability to connect everyday cell phones to satellite has gone from a milestone tech demonstration to a feature that's deployed in millions of phones. Mindel De La Torre has watched this evolution closely and been a part of the regulatory advancements to make it possible. Formerly chief of the FCC's International Bureau, Mindel then led regulatory and international strate...

There's a lot of hype in the space industry and bold projections about how demand for satellite broadband, direct-to-device, and more. But every year, the Satellite Industry Association provides a clear view into the industry's financial performance in the annual State of the Satellite Industry Report. This week I'm joined by SIA President Tom Stroup to dig into the 2026 report, which tracked rapi...

SWAP — size, weight, and power — is a defining feature of space engineering constraints. As new technologies and designs have opened up options for size and weight, power is still a limiting constraint.  Longtime space executive Andrew Rush turned his attention to the issue of power in space with Star Catcher, the company he co-founded in 2024. Star Catcher has the bold ambition to break the const...

How do you future-proof your satellite network to thrive in an increasingly connected world? It's a key question that network operators are asking as they navigate new technologies like 5G, non-terrestrial networks (NTN), multi-orbit architectures, and AI-driven applications. This week, Brian Jakins, senior vice president of Sales at ST Engineering iDirect joins the On Orbit podcast for a conversa...

Based in Milan, Italy,  SatEnlight  is an optical communications technology company with a terminal that stacks multiple beams on top of each other, arranged in what looks like a multi-layered spiral staircase of lasers.  SatEnlight CEO and co-founder Matteo Vismara and his co-founder developed the product based on years of scientific research in Physics and work based at the CERN Large Hadron Col...

SSC Space  has a mission to help its customers access space — whether that's spacecraft operations and engineering, operating the Esrange launch center in Sweden, or its global ground network. With 54 years of operations, SSC Space has deep experience in space missions.  Now, the company is expanding its ground systems business with SSC Space Go, designed for commercial companies with small satell...

As a young electrical engineer at RCA Corporation, Shey Sabripour was inspired by the company's legacy of contributing to space missions, and he wanted to make his own mark by establishing a company that builds technology in the United States. He went on to found  CesiumAstro  10 years ago, which is now at a pivotal moment in its growth journey. He joins On Orbit this week after  the company recen...

Emile de Rijk started  Swissto12  with a simple goal — to make access to Geostationary Orbit (GEO) faster and more affordable. In order to achieve that, the company had to think smaller. From its origins as a startup, Swissto12 is now coming of age as a disruptive European satellite manufacturer. This week, Swissto12 CEO Emile de Rijk joins On Orbit to talk about the company's cutting edge payload...

Semiconductors are foundational to satellite operations, powering everything from communications payloads, to sensing, and propulsion control. As CEO of Spirit Electronics , Marti McCurdy's work is at the heart of the semiconductor supply chain.  Spirit Electronics offers semiconductor services that range from ASIC design and foundry, to wafer processing, and qualification. The company has always...

Investment in space infrastructure hit a new record in 2025, reaching $22.2 billion, according to  Space Capital 's latest report. This level of investment surpassed the previous record of 2021.  Chad Anderson, CEO and founder of Space Capital, joins On Orbit this week to share his takeaways from 2025 from Space Capital's recent  Space Investment Quarterly report , alongside predictions for 2026. ...

Data centers in space have been a hot topic in the last few months as a potential future solution to the limitations of running massive data centers on Earth. Ramon. Space, which builds edge computing and onboard processing systems has been preparing for this future for years. In this episode, Ramon. Space CEO Avi Shabtai shares the concept of a distributed architecture data center in space, with...

There's a growing understanding that space-based capabilities are critical for national defense strategies, and defense demand for commercial space systems has been a key trend in 2025 influencing both satellite communications, manufacturing, and imagery and sensing. 2025 brought the announcement of the Golden Dome planned missile defense architecture, and a steep ramp-up in space investment in na...

Forecasts on the arrival time for quantum computing vary greatly – from "it will be here in a decade" to "it's already here." There is consensus on the fact that it's coming, and when it does, it will change the way we build and protect networks in space. In this episode of our Future Space Economy webcast series , we're joined by experts in the field to help understand how quantum computing and q...

Is space crowded? Although there's been such a large increase in satellites in orbit, it's not a simple question.  On Orbit revisits the question with Chiara Manfletti, CEO of Portugal-based space traffic management company Neuraspace . Chiara emphasizes the need for better coordination on space situational awareness (SSA) and space traffic management (STM) and the evolving landscape of standards...

Computing capability has advanced rapidly on Earth, but on-board computing in space is more challenging — as chips have to be hardened to function amid the radiation environment in space. Edward Ge, co-founder and CEO of three-year old startup  Aethero , is working to tackle this challenge and enable higher computing power onboard satellites.  In this On Orbit episode, Ed explains some of the chal...

While sovereign satcom systems are not a new idea, sovereignty has become a critical issue in the satellite industry over the last year as geopolitical trends push nations to want more control over their communications and space data. This episode of On Orbit features Keith Blanchet, vice president of Global Government for  ST Engineering iDirect , to dig into this global trend.  Sovereignty can i...

In-space manufacturing on a large scale is a capability that has seemed like science fiction but is now moving closer to reality. Rendezvous Robotics, which came out of stealth mode last month, is one startup working on the challenge of how we will build a future in space.  This episode of On Orbit features co-founder Dr. Ariel Ekblaw to hear more about the autonomous, modular tiles that Rendezvou...

The satellite industry is going through a digital transformation. In this episode of On Orbit, we're joined by a group of experts representing RF manufacturing, and both parabolic and electronically scanned antennas for a look at digitization at the edge.  Guests include Simon Swift, engineering director of ETL Systems; Dave Nicoll, strategic business director of Holkirk Communications; and John-P...

Back from Paris,  Via Satellite  Editor Mark Holmes joins On Orbit host Rachel Jewett to unpack some of the top takeaways from World Space Business Week. Two themes drove much of the conversation during the week — direct-to-device (D2D) and defense. Spectrum was a big topic of conversation with SpaceX's big spectrum buy and Viasat and Space42 unveiling a new shared spectrum approach to D2D. And wh...

  Over the past year, Umbra has expanded its business from operating a commercial SAR constellation to also offering Mission Solutions — where it develops bespoke and custom space systems for the U.S., and its partners and allies.   This episode of On Orbit features Jason Mallare, vice president and general manager of Umbra's Mission Solutions business. Jason describes Umbra's culture as "customer...

The relationship between the commercial space industry and the Space Force has evolved in recent years. While the Space Force using commercial capabilities is not new, the "buy before build" philosophy has marked a change in acquisition strategy.  Space Systems Command's Commercial Space Office (COMSO) was set up two years ago to better integrate commercial capabilities. This week's On Orbit podca...

In this week's episode, On Orbit interviews Beau Legeer, director of Imagery and Remote Sensing at Esri. While Esri doesn't operate its own satellites, the company integrates commercial satellite data into its ArcGIS software offering, working to make satellite imagery accessible and user friendly for its customers.    Beau talks about how the barrier to entry to exploiting satellite imagery has d...

This episode of the Future Space Economy series focuses on how space is shaping the future of medicine. Host Jeff Hill is joined by  Eascra Biotech  CEO and co-founder Mari Anne Snow and Jana Stoudemire, senior executive,  Barrios Technologies , to discuss some exciting new developments in bringing medical and pharmaceutical research to space.  Eascra Biotech is a nanomedicine company that was sel...

The past few years have seen an uptick in partnerships between satellite and telcos as mobile operators look to expand the reach of their networks. Direct-to-device has garnered many of the headlines in this area, but the satellite-telco convergence also encompasses satellite broadband, backhaul, and IoT. This week, we hear from Tim Hatt, head of Research and Consulting for GSMA Intelligence, with...