Plus: The satellite industry’s most expensive problem isn’t in orbit
By Dan Robitzski
Welcome back to our weekly newsletter highlighting the opinions and perspectives of the SpaceNews community.
|
|
|
|
FROM SPACENEWS |
 |
Honor the icons shaping space: Since 2017, the SpaceNews Icon Awards have celebrated the companies, teams and individuals driving breakthroughs across civil, commercial and military space. Nominate the innovators, collaborators, and change-makers whose work over the past year — or an entire career — has left a lasting mark on the industry. Submit your nomination today. |
|
|
|
|
|
The term "dual-use," which describes technology that has both military and commercial, scientific or any other uses, has become a misleading distraction, argued Shield Space CEO Graeme Ritchie in a recent SpaceNews opinion article.
"There is only technology. How it is employed is a question of intent, context and political will, not of the technology itself. A precision optical payload captures imagery whether the target is a forest fire or a forward operating base," Ritchie wrote.
He argued that there is no longer a meaningful boundary between military and civilian technology (or life), especially in Europe. Calling capabilities "dual-use," he said, is a product of the imagination that war is an abstract event that happens to other people — an assumption that he said no longer reflects reality in Europe.
Read the full SpaceNews article here. |
|
|
|
|
The finances underlying direct-to-device connectivity have made it difficult for mobile network operators (MNOs) to see a return on investment, according to an article penned by Darío Buschiazzo, senior director of business development at Syniverse.
"Satellite roaming traffic flows only one way, so they’re always paying out to satellite operators and never collecting inbound roaming revenue. Today, this gives them limited incentive to invest in making these partnerships work," Buschiazzo wrote.
And "because they’re not investing, they’re not upgrading their billing and settlement infrastructure."
New financial frameworks already exist, Buschiazzo said, but the new model needs to come from conversations between MNOs and the satellite operators with which they partner, the latter not having decades of assumptions for how the finances of telecommunications should work.
Read the full SpaceNews article here.
SpaceNews is committed to publishing our community’s diverse perspectives. Whether you’re an academic, executive, engineer or even just a concerned citizen of the cosmos, send your arguments and viewpoints to opinion (at) spacenews.com to be considered for publication online or in our next magazine. If you have something to submit, read some of our recent opinion articles and our submission guidelines to get a sense of what we’re looking for. The perspectives shared in these opinion articles are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent their employers or professional affiliations. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
