Ground systems technology is years behind the satellites it supports and catching up will require a fundamental transformation of the sector and interoperable standards, panelists at SATELLITE 2021 said.
Stuart Daughtridge of Kratos Defense noted that the latest software-defined satellites have “unbelievable capabilities” that can’t be monetized while the ground sector lags. “If your ground segment can’t support it, it doesn’t matter how great your satellite is.”
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Paul Mattear of AWS said: “One of the issues that we have with ground infrastructure is a lack of standards across the board.” He compared the current state to the 1980s cellphone market: “If you turned on your cell phone, you paid. If you traveled somewhere, you paid extra. You might not be able to use it at all.” AWS is making a play into the Ground-Station-as-a-Service market with AWS Ground Station.
Richard Schgallis of Safran Data Systems said systems must become multi-mission capable: “Mission cross compatibility is going to be a high interest item.” Daughtridge argued the answer is to standardize commodified elements: “We want to standardize the stuff that’s easy, and then allow companies to innovate on the parts that are hard.”
Assaf Cohen of SpaceBridge noted the enormous complexity: “Think about the LEO constellations where now you need to communicate with an onboard processor and send commands from the ground and optimize the network. On top of everything, we have to be interoperable.” This complexity drives companies like SpaceX toward vertical integration. Schgallis concluded: “We’re getting to the point where data from space will be used to move markets, and who is going to get that data in time to buy or sell will become a factor. That’s all going to be driven by the ground segment.” VS
