SatNews

SmallSat Symposium Updates

Finding the best use of AI in EO

By Chris Forrester

Moderator: Dr. Paul Struhsaker, CEO, Arrasar Partners tasked his panel at the Smallsat Symposium at Mountain View with some challenging questions over the best use of AI in Earth Observation (EO).

Dr. Marco Ruano, Founder/Chairman, Sanzar, based in Spain said that operators working in EO clearly needed satellites to speedily download their data. “The more that AI can help on board the satellite itself the easier it is for the ground activity later. A major challenge today is managing the cluster of satellites, their safety and collision avoidance. Data processing on board is happening and will grow. Another trend is Optical, and this will co-exist with RF imagery.”

Alvaro Alonso Ruiz, Co-founder & CCO, Leanspace, which is a provider of ground solutions and based in France. “The dilemma is that AI within EO we have to think of our businesses and serving our customers. The core demand is delivering better images and as quickly as possible. AI can certainly help, but we have to prioritise the customers demand, whether urgent or periodic.”

Ruiz told delegates that some ground – and satellite – operators need to bring their work up to date. “I was at a EO control office just a few days ago where they were depending on Windows 95. Imagine the risks this represents. This is not a joke! Some of our governments are using technologies from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. I have seen places where floppy discs are still used! It is long overdue that the industry updates itself.”

Matteo Cuccorese, Founder, SPAICE Technology Ltd, a specialist on AI software. “We see a futuristic applications in using AI for handling EO tasks, and the problem for me is prioritising one task over another and AI is excellent for this. AI can also give us answers over command and control, and tell us the best usage of the constellation and the ideal course for the missions underway. Situational awareness is also important, and avoiding orbital debris is key. The timetable for clearing debris seems very long, however.”

Mr Cuccorese compared the space situation with those of the self-driving vehicles and where through computing and situational awareness the technology allows fleets of self-drive and no-driver taxis to be safely in use.

Commoditization: Friend or Foe?

By Chris Forrester

Moderator Lori Gordon, Space Enterprise Integration Corp Chief Engineer’s Office, The Aerospace Corp. posed a question to her panel at the Smallsat Symposium in Mountain View, and concerned data and the benefits – and risks of commoditization in general. 

Alexander Greenberg, Co-founder/CEO, Loft Orbital said there’s a problem. “We on the commercial side can take advantage of military spend and these commercial companies can benefit from commoditization. We all have to remember that standards tend not to happen in the space industry. Some scientific instruments are far from ‘plug and play’. This is OK, but the device has to address the complexity around it.”

Brooke Stokes, Partner, McKinsey & Co. told delegates that commoditization is happening but if you look at NASA’s spend over the past 10 years then the amount of spend allocated to commercial operators has more than doubled while at the same time the overall spend has also grown. For the DoD it has tripled.  But the second data point is that the spend on satellite manufacturing by the U.S. government and some 97% of that spend is on what we call ‘exquisites’ and over the past 5 years this has dropped to two-thirds. 

“As to D2D operators there might be more who will try but direct-to-device has a fair number of hurdles which we all recognise. The partnerships already announced seem to be the way to go,” added Stokes.

“I’d also suggest you looked closely at where Government cash is going, and watch for the inflection point. On the private side of investment there’s a real ‘valley of death’ risk and the worry about the cash either running out or a business successfully assembling a ‘C’ round of cash raising.”

Alvaro Sanchez, President, Integrasys, added that the overall spend on space and satellite is growing exponentially and many new business models are emerging. “Look at data transfer. It is not that long ago that 4 Mb/s up to a satellite was enough. Now, its 40 Mb/s and rising. The costs – per Meg – have reduced by a few measures of magnitude. I was in Australia a few weeks ago, and in a store the salesman started selling me a Starlink system with enthusiasm. He was right, but it is now a simple retail commodity. Data is already largely a commodity but these falling costs will allow many others to enter the market with new products, and hopefully succeed.  Competition is healthy, and once a problem is identified then a solution will hopefully emerge. We need to keep this innovation moving. There’s a trend with LEO, and a shift to services.  If something has been commoditised then why would you want to invent something new unless it really is a better service?”

“As to D2D I think there will be around 4. Perhaps eventually there could be just 2 or 3 with M&A,” said Sanchez.

Renato Dias, CEO, United Teleports said that standards had to be followed. “Look at the difference between SpaceX and Boeing for standardisation of an astronaut’s space suit. There is always the question of commoditisation vs innovation. From Starlink has come Starshield.”

Dr. Behzad Koosha, BD Lead for Space Architecture Development, Sidus Space, stated that market trends are changing and rapidly. “Optical is very important, and launch costs have tumbled and enabled customers to get to orbit.  Having the best satellites is one step and they need equally sophisticated ground services behind them. ESA has an excellent small business programme, and are addressing the supply side.”

Planning for 100,000 satellites, and mitigating risk

By Chris Forrester

Moderator: Ahsun Murad, President/CEO, Optimal Satcom set the scene for his panel at the Smallsat Symposium held at Mountain View on February 6, by asking what would make a bad day in space for you?  He also wanted the panel to examine the prediction that in 7 years or so there would be 100,000 satellites in space.

Louis Christen, Snr Director Proliferated Systems, Northrop Grumman Space Systems and is interested in about 130 satellites for the SDA. Collison avoidance, cyber threats are high on his radar. Mr Christen said as orbits get more congested there will need to be much better observability and monitoring. 

Tim Lynch, SVP & Chief Strategy Officer, Frontgrade Technologies, said the ‘bad day’ question needed two parts, they were ‘man-made’ or non-man made.  There might be debris, but the non-man made could be solar flares, an asteroid hit, or when flight systems start to fail and there’s the risk of conjunction.  We have to ensure that if we can move a craft that we don’t move it just like the trolleys in a supermarket aisle, where there’s a clash! Boats and aircraft have radar, and we have figured these maritime and aircraft problems out and perhaps we need some of the lessons to be incorporated into commercial and military activity.”

Dr. Rajeev Gopal, VP, Advanced Programs Defense Division, Hughes Network Systems, has focused for the past 10 years on resiliency for Hughes and EchoStar. But I would hope that we can cover mitigation when something bad has happened. “We all have to remember that a cyber threat that hi-jacks a satellite means that the satellite then becomes a weapon. Weaponisation is a real threat, and where the problem could happen in minutes. We have sensors and programmes to monitor satellites, but it is the risk of a collision and where the debris field could wipe out a complete orbit.”

Dr. Gopal mentioned the complete maritime industry, and the occasional problems a vessel could suffer, and the 35,000-40,000 aircraft in the air at any one time and the consequential risk of catastrophe. “It has taken years and years to come up with system to mitigate catastrophes. But 100,000 satellites, or 1 million satellites, these are different magnitudes of risk. It is going to be a challenging problem. Maybe we need beacons on satellites, as we have on ships and aircraft. Modern software and architecture can easily handle 100,000 craft, or 1 million provided we know what is happening and that we have all communicated.”

Dr. Dan Ceperley, Founder/CEO, LeoLabs and says its 7 radar sites around the world help to monitor and spot events as they happen. “We have to be aware that it seems the solar problems are increasing in its current 11 -year cycle with 2025 said to be a peak.  There’s also the risk, especially in LEO, where space traffic in orbit can be a problem.  We have seen events, for example, the Russian Doll models when a craft dropped off another satellite. We need to be aware of this. The past few years we have seen a steep rise in the number of proximity problems. They used to be very rare. That’s not the case today. Rapid scaleability is the name of the game today. We build radars and can match the proliferation of satellites in LEO. But we must remember that the Earth is largely covered by water, and it is over the oceans that we also need monitoring.”

Defense Innovation Unit: Thinking forward with commercial help

By Chris Forrester

Gary Henry, Senior Advisor at the Defense Innovation Unit.   With 27-years in the USAF (“and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat”), Mr Henry has also spent 5 years at SpaceX (he joined in 2019). He explained what the current DIU version 3.0 comprises, and which has as its objective “using the best of commercial technology and innovation at speed and scale to deter major conflict or win if forced to fight.” 

He added that what could be described as DIU 1.0 was post WW2 with bombers and submarines and nuclear. It was a successful strategy. DIU 2.0 saw Gulf War-type precise affects, and proving that problems can be solved with mostly commercial technology solutions.

“Today’s DIU 3.0 is constantly evolving. The past 10 years now has a new element present, which is the race between the U.S. and others to embrace and control AI.”

DIU is designed to fill any gaps, and has a large number of commercial vendors active with submissions, and then there’s 12-24 months for prototyping. DIU is looking at the following silos:

  • Responsive Space
  • Resilient Comms
  • Persistent Sensing
  • Dynamic Space Operations
  • Advanced Power & Propulsion
  • Assured PNT

“Being able to manoeuvre [a satellite] in a way that your adversary cannot, will help to win a conflict.”

Mr Henry used SpaceX’s Starship as a model of excellence. “Launching 100-150 metric tons to LEO, cost from $2000 per kilo to $200 and taking out the marginal costs then this sum falls to $20 per kgs. I believe we are on the verge of something dramatically transformative. It is a question of ‘when’, not ‘if’.”

He encouraged small businesses to connect with the DIU, and complete a form on the DIU’s web-site and express their interests and capabilities. He added that Starship was on the DIU’s radar. Mr Henry expected Starship when in its ‘tanker’ mode to be very useful when in orbit. “In my opinion what I like about the DIU’s approach is to leverage your system and ideas, and which would be useful to the Dept. of Defense. In general DIU encourages international partners, and it is increasingly rare for the DoD to bar international suppliers. Hypersonic vehicle testing is also on their radar, with a planned weekly test regime. The best performing test is currently an Australian company (Hypersonix Launch Systems).”

Minimising space debris

By Chris Forrester

There are some 25,000 objects, at least the size of a softball, orbiting the Earth and more than 100 million smaller pieces, according to NASA.  Moderator Steve Richeson, VP Sales & Marketing, Mission Microwave but said this is an issue that affects those working on the Ground Segment just as much as those working in space. “This issue has been kicking around for some time, and our panel will tell you it is not hopeless. He explained that there are laws in place, notably the Orbital Debris Sustainable Deployment Act, from the U.S. Senate. There are efforts to make this a United Nations responsibility.”

Tom Stroup, President, The Satellite Industry Assoc., told delegates at the Smallsat Symposium held at Mountain View, that the SIA and its members had started looking at space debris some 10 years ago. “Meeting s with key parties led to us putting together some industry standards and best-practices advice. This included having personnel available 24/7 to deal with orbital conjunction issues. We have submitted our thoughts to the new administration’s transition team. There needs to be ‘rules of the road’, so to speak and management of the problems.”

Dr. Chiara Manfletti, CEO, Neuraspace, based in Portugal, focuses on “smarter space traffic management” which detects potential high-risk collisions earlier. “Currently we are serving more than 400 satellites with our software products and with sensors on the ground to support this work. Some times a client, especially with a large satellite, is having to decide whether or not to initiate a manoeuvre in a situation. We can advise on that dilemma. We also handle real time screening so if a move is agreed that the craft is not moving toward another problem. We also coordinate between operators.”

Brennan Allen, Head of Sales at Morpheus Space which was founded in Dresden, Germany and builds the ‘GO-2’ electric propulsion system. GO-2 is designed for repositioning, collision avoidance and station keeping for orbital satellites. Mr Allen said they have a product (of 1U size) which can be attached to CubeSats. “We understand collision avoidance but our thinking also includes getting the best return on your investment (ROI) in space. Station keeping, as well as collision avoidance is part of that ROI.  We are not so much ‘doom and gloom’ but in returning investment for customers.”

Dr. Clare Martin, EVP, Astroscale U.S., and explained that her company with the vision of a safe, sustainable future for space for future generations. “Orbital debris is a global problem. We are very much focused on bringing the next generation of usability for space to the forefront and achieving our vision. There are things which can be done to mitigate the problem right through from design to launch. We look at orbital inspection to find out what is going on, as well as our services to support spacecraft at the end of life including the potential removal of a spacecraft from a constellation. We also have a couple of missions around the world which are looking at active debris removal right now. Regulation and Innovation should move at a similar pace but there also needs to be consistency in regulation. It would be good if there could be agreement around the world as to what good practice means. But international coordination tends to be slow. But we should not wait, we could start to address this problem now.”

Jane Ielmini, Co-founder/COO, Orbotic Systems, which was founded to keeping space sustainable and safe. “We want to create less debris in space, and we have a passive deorbiter which conforms to the FCC 5-year deorbit rules, which we are very happy to see in place. There’s no need to have dead satellites up there for 25 years. Our D3-Deorbit drag device can be used to manoeuvre a satellite or constellation, deorbit a satellite, and target the re-entry location. D3 does this passively, without any rocket propellant, making it the ideal deorbit solution,”  she said. She added that deorbiting was fine but not if it passed through active orbits and thus increased the risk of creating further debris. 

Legendary brilliance at work

By Chris Forrester

Tom Mueller, CEO/Founder Impulse Space. Mr Mueller was Employee No. 1 at SpaceX, and is an aerospace engineer and rocket engine designer. His work on the Merlin engine, which still powers SpaceX’s rockets, is hugely important to SpaceX. He founded Impulse Space having retired from SpaceX in 2020. Today his team is working on rocket engines as well as ‘space tugs’ for rescuing and moving satellites while in orbit. 

Randy Segal, Partner, Hogan Lovells spoke to Mr Mueller in a ‘Fireside Chat’ at the Smallsat Symposium in Mountain View on February 5. She said this task was “without doubt the best role for anyone at the conference, and it was an honor to meet and talk to Tom”. 

Mr Mueller said he met with Elon Musk in January 2002. “We had a couple of meetings and I joined him on May 1st that year. It wasn’t until later that I realized that because I had signed first to join him that I was Employee No 1, at least on the payroll, (where Elon is No 3, he said).”

Mueller told a few stories, including one in 2008 when a marketing lady (“Diane”) visited and we took her to watch an engine test. She didn’t think it was very loud when compared to a rock concert she had attended the previous week. “So we took her closer – about 100 yards away from the engine – which could develop 100,000 lbs of thrust. We were in a Hummer, and she ended up hiding behind the seat screaming, and the burn lasted 2.5 minutes, so she was being tortured with the noise.”

“Starting Impulse, where again I was employee No 1, is exciting, scary and fun. At first it was very scary, but now we are flying our second spacecraft (Leo Express-2) and we have contracts with SpaceX. But I had a lot to learn as a CEO. I left SpaceX in November 2020. It was the first year of Covid so things were fairly slow. I was bored so started designing what is now a 200 lbs engine on our manifest as our Mars lander. The finance for Impulse found me.”

“We try and keep everything at Impulse simple. We use self-pressurizing liquids, for a start. As much as we can we use 3D printing for components. We set up to be vertically integrated and co-located (at Redondo Beach, California and with engine testing in the Mojave Desert). It simplifies your control over cost and quality and all of our staff have stock in the business so they are highly motivated.”

“My aims are to be successful but also to help others achieve their goals. We have talked to people here at this event about how we might help them, and that’s also good. I just want to get the space-related economy going.”

“Money doesn’t keep me awake at night because we closed a ‘B’ round of financing last year.”

“We have two product lines. Helios allows what a Falcon 9-type rocket could do in terms of getting into orbit, to the Moon and even to Mars. Flights with Helios will start next year. Then there’s Mira, which is our orbital transfer and hosting vehicle and is capable of staying on orbit for up to 5 years. It, or versions of it, will handle relocation in space and debris removal. Anything that requires transportation in space is what we want to do.”

“When we started there was nobody who could develop (from scratch) their own rocket engines. Now there are several excellent teams here in the U.S. capable of the task. The sector has pushed the state-of-the-art development of chemically-powered rocket engines. Falcon 9’s Merlin engines are the most reliable that have ever flown with 400 missions and growing. The Raptors on SpaceX cost around $1 million each, while not so very long ago a similar engine might have cost many tens of millions.”

“Looking to the future the difficulty is accurately forecasting when things are going to happen.”

Earth Observation, growing in importance and ability

By Chris Forrester

This panel at the Smallsat Symposium, held in Mountain View on February 5, focussed on capacity issues but also looked at applications which could be anticipated in the future. Dr. Jim Crawford (Chairman & CTO, Orbital Insight and now a subsidiary of Privateer Space) encouraged his speakers to be controversial. He also said that every year it seemed that not only was capacity increasing in space but that EO was offering a wider range of applications. 

Christopher Lentz, Lockheed Martin Fellow at Lockheed Martin Space (LM), reminded delegates that last year they acquired Terran Orbital which represented a “huge opportunity” for LM. He said that Terran would be bringing in its automated manufacturing abilities for smallsats, and LM would add customer opportunities. Lentz added that Terran had a portfolio of 80 missions on its books and they were still open to enquires from the market. They are part of LM but can still supply small satellites to whoever.”

“What’s new in EO is high-resolution, thermal Infra-red, and hyper-spectral imaging. In the past the first task was getting into orbit any imagery, then it became ‘my imagery is better than yours’, then it became the revisiting frequency, and it is totally exciting where we are going. And in my view, it is not going to stop. Like in any industry there will be consolidation, and some will survive, and some won’t. But there’s also a difference in the customers. They might say they want to better understand environmental monitoring, or the health of my crops. There’s another community out there which wants its own system that they can control. It could be a national mission, that they do not want taken away from them.”

Lentz outlined the two demonstrations coming to orbit this year: the first was the LM 400 bus, which he said was the most versatile and capable mid-sized satellite. It can support EO to communications and work from LEO to GEO orbits, and configured for high or low power. It will launch on a Firefly rocket in 1H/2025. The second is TacSat, an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance spacecraft with a mission to prove specialized sensing and communications capabilities on orbit. It is the first where we can put a 5G payload for the military.

Nina Soleng, Head of Communications at KSAT – Kongsberg Satellite Services. Norway based, and Soleng stressed they were also heavily involved in EO. “We provide an independent view for clients and to turn that data into insights and useful and actionable information. We always have to remember that latency in our business is not so much from the satellite itself but the handling of that data once it has been received.”

She said that KSAT was excited by hyper-spectral and thermal imaging. “But the question is, who will pay for it? One of our customers is in the energy sector and we know they will be happy to see some of the new services from the technology and many of them are shifting their focus onto green energy. With ‘thermal’ and the opportunity for improved monitoring, and with extra satellites coming on line this year the sector is in a good place.”

Kevin Flesher, Sr Director for Space/ISR Solutions at Maxar Intelligence, and started by reminding delegates that Maxar was highly regarded for its very high-resolution imagery. On February 4 Maxar launched a pair of EO craft (their 5th and 6th WorldView craft) bringing the total launched to 6 since May 2025. We were sold out in many regions but now have additional capacity. There’s been growth in high-level monitoring and re-visiting, and this is very much the ‘sweet spot’ for the industry. There has to be diversity, in order to handle day or night, bad weather and so forth. The problem, as ever, is who pays?  

Adam Maher, Founder & CEO, Ursa Space Systems Inc., said his company’s focus was on software and bringing in the huge amounts of data in. “We turn it into insights that are meaningful for the end-user, especially for non-technical end-users. There are changes taking place in EO, where a number of satellites are now reliable enough to tackle more tactical or operational missions. We can do stuff on the same day, and this might be what was happening either side of a border. And we can interpret that activity: is it normal, or not normal?”

“It must be remembered that it is essential to think of the rest of the chain, not just in space. The infrastructure is in place and the technology understood but is the business model in place and while it might not be the exciting part of the business it is, for us, crucial and allows us to enter some very different markets. Often, we are dealing with fairly new businesses and frequently thought has not been given to long-term pricing or pricing for a rapid turn-around. Even something simple like having someone working over a weekend, or at night. There are plenty of vendors who do not have staff working over the weekend or at night! That might mean we cannot deliver. Or dealing with Asia which has working days that are very different from the U.S.,” Maher added.

Consolidation, and avoiding the “Deep, dark desert of disruption and despair”

By Chris Forrester

The fastest way for a ‘start up’ to exit is usually via a merger or acquisition. The panel at the Smallsat Symposium in Mountain View on February 5 discussed the current picture. Moderated by Alexis Sáinz, Partner, at Hogan Lovells, who said back in 2023 there was a wave of consolidation with names such as Viasat/Inmarsat, Eutelsat/OneWeb, SES/Intelsat, and Maxar. Last year was quieter, although he cited the AeroVironment $4.1 billion acquisition of Blue Halo last year as a good case in point. Although this was not one of Hogan’s deals, he praised the action as an excellent fit. 

Armand Musey, Financial & Valuation Consultant, Summit Ridge Group, said recently they were focussing on D-2-D, FSS and ground equipment, however, he said he was pessimistic. “The big, large space companies are entering into a deep, dark desert of disruption and despair. It is not pretty. The consolidations mentioned were designed to better prepare them to fight SpaceX and Starlink, but now it’s clear to me that consolidation is not going to help them. This is a depressing place to be for these big companies. If we look at D2D there has not been direct M&A but plenty of partnering. We’ve seen Apple and GlobalStar, Starlink and T-Mobile, AST and Ligardo, and these were done to almost hedge people’s bets.”

Musey said he expected European consolidation to happen once governments decide what they want to do with both satellite manufacturing and launch. “In general space is strategically very important but [Europe] is so far behind when compared with SpaceX and Starlink that it is inevitable that there will be consolidation.”

Karl Schmidt, MD, KuippsDeSanto & Co., said they were working in defense, government space as well as on-orbit activity and ground satcoms and high-end engineering services. “We had a record 2024, although deals were down.” He told delegates that of last year’s deals in aerospace and defense about 15% of them involved space or space related activity. In 2025 we would expect space components to again figure with similar percentages.”

Tyler Letarte, Principal, AE Industrial Partners, focuses on space investments with small and medium satellites as well as sub-systems and the broader space economy. However, he said that 2024 was notable in the number of deals that did not get done! There were between 6 and 10 deals that we expected to see transacted and some are still lingering and we are hopeful that they will get done. In our view the winners and losers have begun to emerge.”

Akshay Patel, MD at PJT Partners, said he was spending a lot of time in the small-sat area. “My view is that a lot of activity last year was dependent on Space Development Agency (SDA) work and awards. Many of these companies have SDA revenues in their own pipelines. Those SDA timelines are somewhat delayed and this has created ripple effects down the line. For 2025 it remains a guessing game. Tranche 3 awards are beginning to flow, but we also have a new Administration and it is unclear as to which path will be taken. Vertical integration can be expensive.”

Build it yourself, or buy it in?

By Chris Forrester

The topic addressed in a panel at the Smallsat Symposium (Does Vertical Integration in manufacturing risk the dilution of capital and effort) is frequently at the top of every manufacturer’s concerns. What should they build themselves, and what would be best bought in?  The panel’s moderator: Brian Weimer, Partner, Telecom Team Leader, Sheppard Mullin heard the pros and cons from his assembled experts.

Daniel Gizinski, President at Comtech Satellite Network Technologies said that the company had seen ebbs and flows as the trends went one way and another. “We have known eras when vertical integration was very popular, and other times less so. Sometimes, especially when you a building a unique product then the market likely doesn’t exist as a supplier. Indeed, many companies vertically integrate out of sheer necessity. We have also seen a swing over the past 10 years or so in standards-based components and this suggests moving together [with suppliers].”  

Dr. Emile de Rijk, CEO & Founder at SWISSto12 which started life as an antenna manufacturer which grew into building advanced payloads and now building full satellites. SWISSto12 supplies smaller satellites for GEO customers. “The volumes are lower and the overheads needed to meet radiation and other qualifications are higher so for us there’s less incentive to vertically integrate. We focus on payload and work closely with suppliers and partners for the other elements.”

Chris Winslett, General Manager, Blue Canyon Technologies explained what to Blue Canyon were the primary drivers, and admitted that their philosophy was a little different from some of their competitors.  “We started as a component making elements for CubeSats then moved into making reaction wheels, and over time transitioned to making CubeSats themselves and now small satellites.”

Tina Ghataore, Global Chief Strategy & Revenue Officer at Aerospacelab, which is a Belgian-based company with 8 satellites launched and more than 12 payloads in orbit. It is in the process of building a ‘mega-factory’ in Charleroi, Belgium to increase production. Initially focusing on commercial off the shelf components they have now increasingly migrated to taking more control smartly and to vertically integrate right to the payload level. “We have in-house ability to manufacture Earth Observation optical and RF sensing ourselves. For smaller satellites, in the 50 kgs class and above, we wanted more control over our destiny, and create a differentiator.”

Tony Gingiss, CEO, Millennium Space Systems said that when his company was founded the components frequently didn’t exist in the marketplace at a price point that was compelling. “There is a case for outsourcing, but you have to ask whether you can get good value from those suppliers. If you have scale then outside sourcing is a possibility. But where we are today, and not building hundreds of satellites then it is a question of ‘cost benefit analysis’. Building in-house gives you a great deal of control over your own destiny, how you plan and develop, and you are not at the whim of others. Indeed, there may not be a right answer to the dilemma.”

Propulsion: changes in systems and choices for satellites

By Chris Forrester

Choosing the right propulsion system is more than just a financial choice. The decision depends on the role of the spacecraft, its weight, its destination and need for potentially a very high degree of thrust to overcome drag when in a low orbit. It could also be dependent on whether in-orbit refuelling might be an option. Overall, propulsion could be a $5 billion market, said moderator Jason Mello, CEO at The KMC Group LLC. 

Dr. Ane Aanesland, Founder & CEO at ThrustMe said the market for propulsion systems was transitioning into an industrial phase, with mass manufacture increasingly the norm. We like to carry out innovation and constantly challenge the usual customs and practices. She said that by the end of this year ThrustMe would have some 200 systems in orbit. “ThrustMe has a product that will be introduced next February in 2026 which will use Iodine which we see as a major breakthrough for the industry.”

Dr. Alexis Harroun, Founder & CEO at Juno Propulsion said some clients continued to favor chemical fuelling with Hydrazine as a propellant. The cost of it, sourcing it, and regulations which forbid its use must be recognised. However, Juno firmly backed green applications for propulsion and taking rocket propulsion to the next level. She added that on-going discussions with clients there were frequent questions regarding in-orbit refuelling, and how expensive might the technique be. “Reliability is crucial, and our design eliminates the pressure vessel usually needed for Hydrazine. This removes some of the risks of failure. Bit fuel efficiency is a key aim.”

Peter Hruby, VP at Busek, said he felt in-orbit refuelling was some way off. “We do not have a client asking for in-orbit fuelling connections.”  Hruby ‘s company supplied Airbus/OneWeb with their (Hall-effect) electric propulsion thrusters. OneWeb use Busek thrusters for orbit-raising, station-keeping, collision avoidance and de-orbit at the conclusion of each satellite’s mission. 

Dr Jun Asakawa, Co-founder & CEO at Pale-Blue explained that his company was looking to power space mobility with water, which was he said “the ultimate green propellant”. Their systems use water as propellant and do not require high pressure storage, which leads to a safe, cost-effective and sustainable solution for in-space propulsion and up to 700 kgs.