SSPI

As space becomes more congested, contested, and interconnected, resilience has to extend across the full space architecture.  In this SSPI-WISE conversation, moderator Krista Hazen speaks with Caitlin Marsh, President of Kepler Communications U.S., and Kristin Houston, CEO of Rocketdyne. They bring perspectives from communications infrastructure, national security, power, propulsion, mobility, and commercial space operations.  Their conversation explores what resilience means as the space environment changes, vulnerabilities across the space ecosystem, optical connectivity, power and propulsion, autonomy and artificial intelligence, customer requirements, launch capacity, integrated architectures, and the workforce future missions will require.  Caitlin also discusses Kepler's optical network, on-orbit computing, hosted payload capabilities, and the work required to expand the company's United States organization and partnerships.  SSPI-WISE originally presented this conversation as an All Members Meeting.  Learn more about SSPI-WISE and register for upcoming meetings at https://sspi.online/WISE26-27  PODCAST CHAPTERS  00:00 WISE Theme and Title  00:20 Welcome and Introductions  03:16 Career Paths and Leadership  10:51 What Resilience Means Today  17:22 Vulnerabilities Across the Space Ecosystem  21:05 Optical Connectivity and Resilient Networks  25:24 Intermission  26:28 Power, Propulsion, and Maneuverability  31:19 Autonomy, AI, and Human Judgment  34:60 Building Integrated Architectures  40:26 Customer Requirements and Investment  47:41 Launch Capacity Beyond Rideshare  51:08 Space Resilience Five Years from Now  55:49 The Future Space Workforce  60:35 WISE Theme 

How does a space ecosystem move from an empty incubator to a globally recognized center of commercial activity?  Stuart Martin joins SSPI Executive Director Tamara Bond-Williams to reflect on the growth of the Harwell space cluster and the model that guided the Satellite Applications Catapult: identify the barrier, build what the market needs, and move on when others can carry the work forward.  Stuart explains why European space companies now face a scale-up funding gap, how the Space for Earth Growth Fund aims to attract larger pools of capital, and why he believes space-based solar power has reached an economic tipping point.  The conversation also examines careers in the AI era, orbital congestion, insurance exposure, circular use of space hardware, and the commercial activities that may expand human life and work in space. 

Satellite constellations are multiplying, orbits are diversifying, and the infrastructure needed to connect them to Earth is expanding rapidly. What does all that growth mean for the satellite ground segment?  In this episode of the SSPI Podcast, Tamara Bond-Williams welcomes Scott Mumford, CEO of Go Global Communications, one of SSPI's newest corporate members. Drawing on nearly 30 years of experience in satellite communications, including leading Liquid Telecom Satellite Services across Africa, Scott brings an engineering and commercial perspective to the changing ground segment.  Scott explains why LEO constellations require more geographically distributed gateways, how evolving technical demands are reshaping ground infrastructure, and what it takes to build and support satellite networks around the world. He also shares how Go Global Comms is responding to these changes and what the company hopes to contribute to the SSPI community.  Learn more about SSPI at https://www.sspi.org. 

Carol Craig did not set out to become a naval aviator, launch a company, take a space company public, or spend her career navigating one rapidly changing industry after another. Her path kept changing, and she learned how to change with it.  In this SSPI-WISE conversation, Carol joins Lyn Chassagne to talk about the experiences that shaped her approach to leadership, from becoming one of the first women eligible to fly in U.S. Navy combat aircraft to founding Craig Technologies and building Sidus Space.  Their conversation explores L1[resilience in the face of unexpected change, learning when to take a risk, building trustworthy partnerships, navigating leadership as a woman in a male-dominated industry, making room for family while building a career, and knowing when an opportunity to lead may require finding a new path.]  Carol also reflects on mentorship, board service, entrepreneurship, the future of the space industry, and one piece of advice she believes emerging leaders should remember: "You deserve to be here."  This conversation was originally presented as an SSPI-WISE All Members Meeting.  Learn more about SSPI-WISE and Space & Satellite Professionals International at SSPI.org. 

What does UK space look like after four and a half years at the head of its space agency?  Dr. Paul Bate joins SSPI Executive Director Tamara Bond-Williams for a wide-ranging conversation about what he can see now that he has stepped outside the UK Space Agency and into academia.  Paul reflects on the UK's growing role in European and international missions, the importance of relationships when geopolitical systems are under stress, and a possible new model for collaborative, digital-first space R&D.  He also explains why the sector needs credible optimism and distinguishes that discipline from hype, what a UK Space and Satellite Personality of the Year should champion, and why space sustainability requires deeper independent research into the orbital and atmospheric environment.  The conversation closes by asking what humans need to thrive there, and which ethical questions institutions must answer as human activity moves farther from Earth. 

What does it take to build a commercial space partnership when market opportunity, national security, and regulation all cross the same border?  In Collateral Risk, Episode 5, Tamara Bond-Williams speaks with Fuhua Ni, founding and managing partner of Shanghai Zenith Law Firm, about the changing legal environment around China's commercial space sector.  Fuhua traces the sector's growth since the government opened more room for commercial participation in 2014. He explains why companies face a fragmented regulatory landscape, how commercial and dual-use activities overlap, and where export-control systems such as ITAR and EAR shape the practical limits of international deals.  The conversation also examines the Wolf Amendment, a proposed CSIS report on areas of possible US–China cooperation, and the effort to establish an SSPI China chapter. Throughout, Fuhua returns to a central question: how can professional relationships and clearer legal frameworks reduce risk without ignoring genuine political and security constraints?  Collateral Risk is part of SSPI's Defense of Space initiative, which explores the commercial, legal, policy, and security choices shaping the space economy.  The episode includes proofed English and Simplified Chinese captions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TdBgAkSo3M

What happens when you build a career around curiosity rather than a predetermined destination?    In this episode of Why I Serve, we meet Shruti Vyas, Head of Programmes at SES and a member of the SSPI Board of Directors.    Shruti's career has moved across satellite engineering, sales, procurement, insurance, risk management and launch management. She says those moves were guided by a simple principle: a career should carry forward a storyline.    That journey eventually put her in the middle of two extraordinary industry stories. She helped navigate the launch of SES-10 on the first flight-proven Falcon 9 booster used for a commercial satellite mission, bridging very different attitudes toward risk and innovation. Today, she helps lead the execution of IRIS², Europe's ambitious secure connectivity initiative.    This episode is part of SSPI's Space and Satellite Futures track, focused on leadership and the next generation of the industry.    If you are interested in satellite communications, on-orbit servicing, space sustainability, professional leadership and the future of the space and satellite community, this conversation offers a thoughtful view from a new member of the SSPI Board. 

Defense of space begins long before launch. It depends on the industrial base that can deliver components, ground systems, financing, insurance, contracting, manufacturing capacity, and commercial services when national-security missions need them.    In The Industrial Base Behind Defense of Space, SSPI and the New York Space Business Roundtable convene an in-person discussion at Milbank in Hudson Yards. Moderator Tamara Bond-Williams speaks with Zack Hester of Novaspace, Quadri Bello of Empire Space, Col. Tim Trimailo of Space Systems Command, David Myers of Applied Aerospace and Defense, Chris Kunstadter of Triton Space, and Dara Panahy of Milbank.    The conversation asks where commercial space can move faster, where contracts and capital create bottlenecks, how insurance and flight heritage shape risk, and what the Northeast can contribute to a more resilient defense space ecosystem.    The video release appears in two parts. The podcast release presents one continuous audio episode with the David Myers cold open and a separately produced intermission. 

What does it take to build a space economy?    Dr. Barbara Ghinelli has spent more than 15 years working on that question. As Director of Innovation Clusters and Harwell Campus at UKRI-STFC, she has helped develop the Harwell Space Cluster and founded the new UK Space and Defence Gateway.    In this episode of SSPI's 2026 UK Space and Satellite Personality of the Year nominee series, Barbara joins Executive Director Tamara Bond-Williams to explore what makes clusters work, why investment needs its own ecosystem, and what the UK needs to turn extraordinary innovation into companies capable of growing at industrial scale.    Barbara also explains why the next evolution of clusters may require stronger connections across sectors and regions, what she believes the UK Space and Satellite Personality of the Year should champion, and why human spaceflight requires a fundamental shift toward designing for failure as well as success. 

Bricks, Satellites and Space Safety  What does a failed satellite have to do with the Space Safety Economy?  In Episode 5 of Are We There Yet?, Tamara Bond-Williams speaks with Carol Craig, Founder and CEO of Sidus Space and Founder and CEO of Craig Technologies, about how safety is designed, tested, operated and valued inside real space missions.  Carol shares lessons from Sidus Space's LizzieSat missions, including why safety starts on the ground, why on-orbit learning matters and why software-defined satellites can preserve mission value after launch. The conversation explores redundancy, maneuverability, mission operations, autonomy, hyperspectral imaging, customer value and the importance of protecting the shared orbital environment.  Carol also points toward one of the key future markets in space safety: standardization. As on-orbit servicing, repair and deorbit capabilities develop, satellites will need standardized physical and communications interfaces that make those services practical, affordable and widely usable.  Sponsored by the American Space Exploration Children's Trust Fund.