As you travel through the lanes of Llanbedr, along the coast of Snowdonia with its changing autumnal colors, it’s hard to believe that just meters away there is a space center in the making. This stunning stretch of coastline, between Harlech and Barmouth, boasts a unique location that will see it emerge as a testing hub for the UK space industry.

Space is becoming ever more congested and contested, making space domain awareness (SDA) essential for mission success. Kratos has created a global radio frequency (RF) sensor network managed by a network operations center and supported by the company’s state-of-the-art software platform. The RF SDA network operates in all-weather, day-and-night, and provides precise tracking for close space operations, communication signals linking satellites with Earth, and ground infrastructure. We interviewed Greg Caicedo, Vice President of Space Domain Awareness and Space Superiority at Kratos to find out more about how this technology protects space assets and adds additional value beyond traditional radar and optical systems.

Natural disasters continue to cause widespread devastation across the world. In 2023, there were 398 notable incidents produced – a staggering US$380 billion worth of economic losses – 22 percent greater than the average for this century. In natural disasters, power and communications are among the first services to fail, just when flooding, high-velocity winds, and storm surges make these services critical to survival and recovery. This has a ripple effect on recovery efforts: first responders need uninterrupted communications to coordinate life-saving operations, and a critical outage can severely hamper their efforts.

Advanced real-time communications and continuous situational awareness play a pivotal role in making high-pressure decisions in the toughest emergency situations. When a natural disaster destroys the existing communications infrastructure or if the emergency scenario is in a remote area beyond the reach of terrestrial networks, satellite communications is the only tried and tested method for maintaining this crucial connectivity. It becomes a lifeline in these critical situations.

In recent years, satellite tracking has started to unearth some of the worst emissions offenders with measures put in place to both pinpoint and monitor the sheer amount of global greenhouse gas emissions. But understanding where the issues lie is just the start. Satellite tracking coupled with the Internet of Things (IoT) will take the fight against climate change a giant step further.

The global human population is growing at a rate of one percent a year. In November 2022, it hit eight billion. This poses challenges, including to our ability to feed the planet. Technologies enabled by a flexible satellite infrastructure can help but we need to embrace those developments and support innovators with generous and sustained funding. This starts with trusting in the power of technology to help us grapple not only our current problems, but also the problems that will inevitably arise in the future.

The move from hardware to software in satellite ground infrastructure is more than just digital transformation for greater efficiency - it opens the door to a future of new revenue and growth opportunities, cost savings, and a level of competitiveness not seen before in the industry. ATLAS Space Operations is a leader in leveraging network virtualization and modernization to capture these opportunities.

Milbank’s Dara Panahy has been practicing law in the space and satellite arena since 1997. He’s guided many companies through the legal requirements, commercial arrangements, and securing financing to engage in space businesses and, as a result, he’s watched the space economy unfold from a front row seat. We caught up with Panahy and asked some difficult questions about the laws governing the industry; who is liable for space debris; the SpaceX monopoly; the growing specter of space weaponry; and when we might see humans on Mars.

Alongside the technical and operational difficulties that must be overcome to set up and run a satellite communications service, navigating a complex regulatory environment is high on the list of issues operators face. One regulatory element, often shrouded in complexity, is the concept of “landing rights”. As satellite operators seek to expand their reach and deliver innovative services worldwide, landing rights emerge as both a critical enabler and a formidable challenge.

As innovations in Digital Intermediate Frequency (DIF) continue, close collaboration between solutions providers is essential for establishing a new open standard.

Despite a rough ride on Wall Street, Terran Orbital is soaring to new heights. With a second state-of-the-art manufacturing facility soon to come online and an impressive backlog of orders, the company’s future looks bright. We sat down with Marc Bell, Co-Founder and CEO of Terran Orbital to get an inside look at how he has navigated the ups and downs of bringing the company public and is now forging a decisive growth trajectory.

We depend on satellites for our global wellbeing. Without them, civilization as we know it would quickly disintegrate, leaving us in chaos and uncertainty. Space debris and congestion are posing a double threat to orbital safety, and we need to address it now.