COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.–Rocket reusability, earth observation and big data promise to be hot topics at the 33rd Space Symposium, taking place here this week starting Tuesday.
Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) President Eric Stallmer told Defense Daily Monday the aspects of Reusabilty–feasibility, practicality and how it will happen–will be the big talking point here at the Broadmoor hotel and resort. Stallmer said the success of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) successfully launching a used first stage booster last week and Blue Origin‘s mammoth used New Shepard rocket on display outside the exhibit hall here demonstrate the prominence of reusability among top industry officials.
“People are understanding the paradigm is shifting and reusability is going to be a key factor in the reshaping of this industry,” Stallmer said.
Another space executive expects big data to be a popular topic. Space Angels Network investing group founding partner Dylan Taylor told Defense Daily Monday the key point will specifically be how big data is shaping the future of space, not only in terms of creating new opportunities for business models, but attracting additional capital to the industry. Taylor believes increasing consolidation within the earth observation industry will be a prominent topic of discussion. Taylor said he also wants to learn more about Blue Origin’s timeline for passenger flights.
Planet Vice President GA/GPI Rich Leshner told Defense Daily Monday space situational awareness (SSA), space traffic management and rules and responsibilities have been getting a lot of attention. Leshner said he wants to learn more about interesting capabilities emerging from the commercial sector like the New Shepard rocket and how it might provide new ways of doing business with the government.
Planet says it operates the largest constellation of earth-imaging satellites providing timely and global imagery. Leshner said he wants to learn more about who is working on new ideas to continue to expand the depth of human understanding of the earth and where the tools for exploitation come in. He also wants to find out about who is on the leading edge of creating applications and capabilities for turning earth into a queue-able planet.
Boeing [BA] Director of Starliner Crew and Mission Systems told Defense Daily Monday it’s a big deal that Leanne Caret, Boeing president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Defense, Space and Security (BDS), is speaking at the show. Named BDS president and CEO in February 2016, Caret leads the $30 billion business that provides integrated solutions to meet the needs of defense, government, space, intelligence and security customers in the United States and around the world, according to a company statement.
The last time the Boeing BDS president spoke at the Space Symposium was Dennis Muilenburg in 2010, according to Boeing spokeswoman Rebecca Regan. Before that it was Jim Albaugh in 2008, Regan said. Ferguson said Caret speaking at the Space Symposium shows how important space is to Boeing, even though, in the big picture, it’s a niche portion of Boeing’s business.
The Space Symposium runs through Thursday. Though largely not webcast, one interesting panel will be webcast Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. EDT. United Launch Alliance (ULA) CEO Tory Bruno will participate on a panel about the vision of a self-sustained space economy within the confines of CisLunar space. Watch live at http://www.ulalaunch.com/webcast.aspx.
ULA is a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin [LMT].