Astronomy Prints 🌌: Space Minds: Carmel Ortiz on the evolving landscape of satellite communications

Monday, April 6, 2026

Space Minds: Carmel Ortiz on the evolving landscape of satellite communications

04/06/2026

Watch and listen to the Space Minds podcast by SpaceNews

In the April issue: Imagery from space in minutes, military space's supplier constraints and NASA's stop-and-start approach to commercial space stations – read the issue online now.

In this week's episode of Space Minds, host Mike Gruss interviews Carmel Ortiz, senior vice president of medium-Earth-orbit constellation programs at SES. They discuss new technology to help satellites communicate and connect, and how SES is finding a competitive edge the evolving landscape of satellite communications.

Carmel Ortiz on the evolving landscape of satellite communications

FROM THE CONVERSATION

SpaceNews: If we were to talk 12 months from now, what kind of milestones would you hope to have seen accomplished; what does success look like for the rest of 2026?

Carmel Ortiz: We have the Pathfinder-1 launch next week*, and then we start preparing the payload for the Pathfinder-2, so there's a significant amount of work. And for part of that payload, we're making some of the components. We're starting our vertical integration process this year. ... Twelve years from now, we should see that Pathfinder-2 satellite, with our first instance of an SES payload, flying.

*Editor's note: This episode was recorded during the Satellite conference in March.

Watch the full episode here

FROM SPACENEWS BRAND STUDIO

A grid of sci-fi spaceships with the text Spaceship Smackdown at Space Symposium

The debate the space industry didn't know it needed: Forget delta-v. Forget mass fraction. Forget everything you know about actual spacecraft for one glorious evening. Redwire is crowning the greatest sci-fi spaceship of all time this year at Space Symposium — and YOUR vote decides the battlefield. Vote now.

📨 Don't miss what's next. Sign up for other SpaceNews newsletters:

NEW Europe Report: Tracking the policy landscape, investment climate and regional priorities driving Europe's space ambitions.

First Up: Every weekday morning, Jeff Foust delivers the day's most important industry headlines.

Military Space: Veteran defense journalist Sandra Erwin with weekly news and insights for the military space professional.

China Report: Biweekly news and analysis from correspondent Andrew Jones on business, politics and technology in the Chinese space industry.

SpaceNext AI: Exploring the intersection of space and artificial intelligence.

SpaceNews Mission Brief: Golden Dome: Explaining the Golden Dome initiative and what it means for the space industry.

Marketing Minute: Covering PR, marketing and advertising trends for industry communications leaders.

Editor's Choice: Our most important recent stories you may have missed, with background and insights from editors, reporters and contributors.

Opinions: A weekly digest of the latest commentary and analysis.

SpaceNews This Week: The week's top headlines and our conference coverage.

Subscribe to SpaceNews

This email has been sent to generalastronomy110.stnirp@blogger.com because you previously opted in to receive emails from SpaceNews. Unsubscribe here. Sign up for other SpaceNews newsletters.