Profile
Chris McCormick on PlanetiQ’s launch plans, NOAA’s commercial weather pilot
PlanetiQ's CEO and founder Chris McCormick talks with SpaceNews about his company's launch plans and the opportunity he sees in NOAA's commercial weather data pilot.
Q&A | Lockheed Martin’s Rick Ambrose on the convergence of commercial and defense systems
As executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Rick Ambrose has worked to position the company to win its share of government and commercial business, taking a particularly keen interest as the Defense Department plans its future satellite architectures.
‘On My Tombstone, It Should Say Connected the World, Not Created Orbital Debris’
Greg Wyler’s audacious vision for connecting the world via a 720-satellite constellation has no successful precedent. But $500 million of initial investment capital and an impressive list of ground-floor partners go a long way toward building credibility.
The Space Between Perfect and Good Enough
TIP Technologies founder and CEO Michael Miller is fond of saying that his quality assurance firm operates in the space between perfect and good enough. If everything had to be absolutely perfect, he says, nothing would ever fly.
Meet the Man in Charge of Building the Linchpin for NASA’s Much-hyped (and Mostly Unfunded) Journey to Mars
John Honeycutt took over as program manager for NASA’s Space Launch System in early October, about three years before the exploration-class rocket is supposed to make its maiden flight.
An Unbowed France Set To Showcase Space at COP21
The president of the French space agency wants to make sure the heads of state visiting Paris understand the indispensable role of satellites in climate monitoring.
When White House Rang, Dava Newman Thought it was a Prank
Dava Newman has settled into her job as a top advocate for NASA and its marquee Journey to Mars. Her protracted nomination process began with a phone call she thought was somebody's idea of a joke.
Laying the Groundwork for NASA’s Next Earth Science Roadmap
"We want the best relationship with our environment that we can achieve. That requires understanding," says Waleed Abdalati, the man tapped to co-chair the blue-ribbon panel that will tell NASA and NOAA which Earth science satellites it should launch in the decade ahead.
Q&A with U.S. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James
Deborah James is the Pentagon’s first principal defense space adviser, a role that subsumes her previous responsibility as executive agent for space. As the PDSA, James is tasked with solving one of the Defense Department’s longstanding space problems: capability integration between the military services.
Q&A with Isaac Ben-Israel, Chairman of the Israel Space Agency
The growing popularity of national imaging satellites should play to Israel’s strength in low-weight, high-performance spacecraft. Isaac Ben-Israel says Israel is doing what’s necessary to better equip — and support — its industry on global markets.
Q&A with Frank DiBello: Serving Industry and State
Frank DiBello both leads Space Florida, the state’s space development agency, and supports the broader commercial space industry as chairman of the board of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF), an industry group with more than 60 member organizations.
‘Hubble Hugger’ at the Helm
Self-described "Hubble hugger" John Grunsfeld is at the tiller of NASA’s $5 billion-a-year Science Mission Directorate at a time when the agency is celebrating great mission successes, recovering from great planning failures, and preparing to send more billion-dollar robotic spacecraft out into the solar system.
Wade Larson on UrtheCast’s Pivot from Station to Constellation
In mid-June, UrtheCast announced plans to add another camera and a radar instrument to the ISS; a week later, the company announced it was developing a 16-satellite constellation in partnership with Britain's small satellite specialist Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd.
Q&A with Pierre-Jean Beylier, Chief Executive of SpeedCast
At a time when other maritime satcom providers are lamenting the decline in offshore energy markets and tighter purse strings among the big government customers — especially the U.S. government — SpeedCast is predicting a spurt of growth among energy customers based on its recent acquisitions.
Q&A with Merri Sanchez, U.S. Air Force Space Command’s Chief Science and Technical Adviser
Visions of the future involving space technology can easily drift into the realm of the fantastic, in part because the line between far-fetched and plausible isn’t necessarily clear. As the top science and technology adviser to the commander of U.S. Air Force Space Command, Merri Sanchez’s job is to map out a research agenda that aims high but keeps it real.
Former Finance Wonk Wants To (Literally) Clean Up in Space
Before founding Astroscale, Nobu Okada worked for Japan’s Ministry of Finance, BainCapital and McKinsey & Co. Now the Space Camp alumnus plans to launch a mission in 2017 to demonstrate technology to clean up orbital debris.
