The Monday CTO roundtable at SATELLITE 2023 brought together leaders from Inmarsat, Redwire, Atlas Space Operations, Wavestream, and Kepler Communications on laser communications, AI, software, and the talent shortage.
Al Tadros, CTO of Redwire, set the tone by noting that space is only about 3 percent of the global telecom market: “Industry leaders can’t take anything for granted.” He said software and AI are integral to modern space missions: “AI is being leveraged more frequently for complex systems, and applications like cybersecurity.”
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Peter Hadinger, CTO of Inmarsat, offered a long view on laser communications: “I was told laser comms is the technology of the future and always will be. I’ve been in the industry long enough that I think the future is now.” Wen Cheng Chong, CTO of Kepler Communications, agreed but flagged practical challenges: “In addition to putting lasers in space you also have to make sure they’re open standard.”
Brad Bode, CTO of Atlas Space Operations, said software and AI are the convergence layer for multi-band connectivity: “Once you have that … you can do amazing things with the data as it flows through to enable customers to get what they want when they want it.”
On talent, all CTOs cited the acute shortage of skilled engineers. Tadros said recruiting from outside aerospace has helped: “We have locations across the country and giving people diversity of where they work is going to be important.” Hadinger added: “The biggest challenge for me within my team is to get more women in the field.” Chong noted the tension between hybrid work and hands-on engineering: “You can’t have engineers working from home all the time. Finding these unicorns is very, very difficult.” VS
