SSPI

In this podcast, Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters Jim Free, SSPI Chair Emeritus and Founder, Chair and CEO of Lonestar Data Holdings Inc. Chris Stott, SpaceNews Senior Staff Writer Jason Rainbow and SpaceNews Silicon Valley Correspondent Debra Werner explore to better understand how Artemis and a host of other NASA led missions and initiatives will pave the way for public-private partnerships to enlist American entrepreneurship to open up this new frontier to commercial enterprise. Speakers include:

• Jim Free, Associate Administrator, Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate
• Chris Stott, Chairman Emeritus of SSPI, Executive Chairman of Mansat, and Founder of Lonestar Lunar Holdings

In this Making Leaders podcast, we hear from Steve Bates, Director of Systems Engineering at Maxar Technologies and the 2022 SSPI Mentor of the Year. In his current role, he is responsible for managing a team of systems engineers and developing the safety roadmap for Maxar. Steve draws on his deep experience in aviation safety from a long and impressive career in the industry to help Maxar ensure that the company meets the demanding safety requirements for a crewed NASA spacecraft as part of the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) for Gateway, a vital part of NASA’s Artemis program. He is also responsible for preparing Maxar engineers to safely execute new missions as part of the company’s business development strategy.

Steve began his career in the U.S. Marine Corps where he worked primarily in electronic engineering. He went on to become an Engineering Manager at Boeing, where he led technical groups responsible for integration and architecture development of large networked systems, including developing and implementing Network Security requirements. While working at Boeing, Steve served as the FAA-approved Safety and Airworthiness Manager with complete responsibility for Flight Deck design and requirements on the 737 and 757. Learn more about Steve.

In this Making Leaders podcast, we hear from Chiara Cocchiara, Systems Operations Engineer for the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). In her current role at EUMETSAT, she is responsible for operations preparation for future satellite missions with a particular focus on Earth Observation. Chiara manages the mission Reference Operations Plan and Handover Plan to Operations as part of this work. Since joining EUMETSAT, Chiara has held many different roles, each of which gained increased responsibilities over the previous role. She acted as the Launch and Early Operations Phase (LEOP) Service Manager for the launch of Metop-C satellites, a position in which she also needed to cover the work for a missing role in her team. Chiara initiated and led procurement of an improved solution for electronic logbooks for the Mission Control Center by writing up the requirements and analyzing the proposals from external contractors to determine the best fit technically and financially. She also wrote the requirements and oversaw development and implementation of the newest User Notification System at EUMETSAT. Chiara has a Master of Science degree in Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the Università di Bologna, a Master of Business Administration from the Rome Business School and is a graduate of the Space Economy Academy, and she is currently working on her PhD in Space Economy at the University of Palmero. She received a Promise Award from SSPI in 2022. Learn more about Chiara.

In this Making Leaders podcast, we hear from Dr. Anthony Yuen, Specialist Consultant at McKinsey & Company in the Boston office and Chair of the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC). Until recently, he was a practicing physician and Assistant Professor at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. Throughout his 10+ years medical career, he has advocated passionately for the use of space technology to benefit health on Earth, including the use of satellite technology for telemedicine, satellite imagery for disaster response and Earth observation data to inform public and population health.

Some of Anthony’s recent healthcare work includes a research project on the use of satellite and ground-based pollution data to predict COVID-19 caseloads using machine learning. He also performed a systematic review with the NASA Exploration Medical Capability Group on the impact of elevated ambient carbon dioxide levels in spacecraft on the stability of medications in space. Anthony served as Co-Director of the Weill Cornel – OweF Tele-Simulation Day, in which tele-simulation was used to train analogue astronauts and their medical ground crews to respond to simulated real-life emergencies during an analogue mission. He is a member of the Working Group on Space and Global Health at the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Anthony also served as the Director of the Simulation-based Discharge Program at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, a multidisciplinary project focused on the use of simulation technology to enhance discharge education and preparation for caregivers of children with medical devices. Anthony received a Promise Award from SSPI in 2022.

In this Making Leaders podcast, we hear from Donya Naz Divsaler, Co-Founder and CEO of Caidin Biotechnologies, a startup that aims to improve human health and performance in extreme environments, such as outer space, through biomedical advancements. Under her leadership, Caidin Biotechnologies was accepted into Canada’s First Lunar Payload Accelerator for a product that monitors and improves astronaut health on long-term spaceflight missions. Donya also serves the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) as a Canadian Space Ambassador and also as a consultant for the Science and Technology Expertise Development in Academia (STEDIA) group. She obtained her Bachelors of Science in Health Sciences from Simon Fraser University (SFU) after attending Debrecen Medical School in Hungary and is currently working on her Master of Science in the Aerospace Physiology Laboratory at SFU. Her graduate studies focus on examining the effects of microgravity on physiological responses in the human body. Also as part of her studies, Donya was the lead for an ESA project looking at centrifugation-induced artificial gravity as a mitigation tool for the physiological downsides of long-term spaceflight. She received a Promise Award from SSPI in 2022.

In this podcast, based on the November 2022 edition of the New York Space Business Roundtable, our guests round out a three-month conversation about the Cislunar economy, whether it is “real” or not and the best opportunities in it. The conversation features a diverse group of astropreneurs explaining why they have invested time, money and sweat equity to pursue businesses in the Cislunar economy. Speakers include:

• Robert Conrad, Vice President, NASA & Civil Space, SpaceLink
• Mark Quinn, CEO, WTW Global Inspace
• John Rood, Chairman of the Board, President and CEO, Momentus
• Andrew Rush, President & Chief Operating Officer, Redwire
• Yossi Yamin, CEO, SpacePharma

In this Making Leaders interview, we hear from Frank DiBello, President and CEO of Space Florida and one of six inductees to the Space & Satellite Hall of Fame in 2022.

Over a 50-year career in the business of space, Frank DiBello has served in a wide variety of roles, all of them dedicated to guiding and strengthening the aerospace industry in America. In his 13 years with Space Florida – an Independent Special District of the State of Florida – he was instrumental in the state’s recovery from the retirement of the Shuttle in 2011 and its subsequent rise to even greater heights as the thriving commercial space operations and manufacturing cluster it is today. Frank’s leadership and contributions to the advancement of the aerospace industry in Florida has positioned the state as the clear leader in a rapidly transforming aerospace market, which has set an example to many other states, such as New Mexico, Virginia, Alaska, Texas and Georgia to improve their capabilities in the marketplace as well. Read more about Frank.

In this episode of the Better Satellite World podcast, SSPI's Lou Zacharilla and Tamara Bond-Williams speak with Actor/Producer Cas Anvar about the future of society in space and how we must strive to balance financial viability with creating a safe and open home for humanity beyond the stars. 

Cas Anvar is an actor and producer who has been working in the industry for the past 20 years. He founded The Shakespeare company in Montreal, Canada called Repercussion Theatre. Cas recently finished his last season on the hit Amazon show The Expanse, in which he played Alex Kamal, a martian-born transport pilot. He has starred in a variety of other movies and TV series, including the Oscar-nominated Room & Argo and The Operative. For his roles in The Lie and How to Get Away with Murder, Cas was nominated for two Emmy Awards in 2020. He also starred in The Strain TV series.

Space really is the final frontier. Since Star Trek first crossed TV screens in 1966, we have believed that humanity’s destiny lies among the stars. And in the third decade of the third millennium, we are closer to that dream than ever before. Today, after decades of imagining the future, enterprising companies in partnership with governments are putting into place the practical foundations and critical components of a thriving space economy reaching from LEO to cislunar space. This podcast series will bring you the voices of some of these amazing partners on the journey to the final frontier. The fifth episode, based on October's edition of the New York Space Business Roundtable, features a conversation with multiple experts about cislunar opportunities and commercial space.

Following a Significant Digits report by SpaceNews, this episode features a special report from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on the introduction of the anti-satellite missile testing norm presented by USA Vice President Harris as a possible UN resolution and its potential impact on ensuring greater international security for space and the cislunar economy expansion.

Speakers include:

• Hussain Bokhari, Senior Analyst, NSR (an Analysys Mason company)
• Negar Feher, Chief Revenue Officer, SpaceRyde
• Holly Shorrock, Intelligence Analyst, Office of Intelligence and Analysis Economic Security Mission Center at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
• Matthew Taylor, Associate Director, Environmental Intelligence and Civil Space, Raytheon Intelligence & Space

Space really is the final frontier. Since Star Trek first crossed TV screens in 1966, we have believed that humanity’s destiny lies among the stars. And in the third decade of the third millennium, we are closer to that dream than ever before. Today, after decades of imagining the future, enterprising companies in partnership with governments are putting into place the practical foundations and critical components of a thriving space economy reaching from LEO to cislunar space. This podcast series will bring you the voices of some of these amazing partners on the journey to the final frontier. The fourth episode features a conversation with Melissa Thorpe, MSc, Head of Spaceport Cornwall and Kevin Tipton, Senior Director, Aerospace and Aviation at the Greater Houston Partnership.

Melissa Thorpe oversees the entire Spaceport Cornwall project, guiding the team to a successful satellite launch in 2022 from Cornwall Airport Newquay. Together with launch partner, Virgin Orbit, this ambitious project will offer dedicated and responsible access to space. She works across the launch environment to efficiently secure investment, regulations and the infrastructure required to launch, whilst communicating the space story to the local community. She has featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, BBC World News and The Independent.

Kevin Tipton joined the Greater Houston Partnership (the Partnership) Economic Development Division in March 2022 as the Sr. Director, Aerospace and Aviation. The Partnership serves a 12-county region that includes NASA’s Johnson Space Center, two award-winning international airports, a world-class urban Spaceport, 35 plus municipal airports, and approximately 500 aerospace and aviation-related organizations. He manages the organization’s domestic and international economic development efforts in the aerospace and aviation industry. He assists companies considering expanding, relocating, or investing in the greater Houston region.