This year marks a milestone anniversary for the annual SATELLITE conference and exhibition. What started as a modest gathering of satellite professionals in a parking garage 40 years ago has transformed into one of the world’s largest commercial space events. SATELLITE’s 40th birthday comes 18 months into a pandemic that postponed the event twice.
A lot has changed since Elon Musk headlined SATELLITE 2020. More than a dozen massive new satellite constellations were announced, SpaceX and others sent crewed missions to space, OneWeb was saved from bankruptcy by a diverse public/private investment group, and a new wave of space companies began going public.
Explore the Show Daily 2021 Day 1 Issue
Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.
SATELLITE 2021’s opening day features Maxar CEO Dan Jablonsky in a fireside chat on WorldView Legion, plus Simonetta Di Pippo of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs at the luncheon keynote. The opening “Satcom Growth Strategies: The Operators Speak” panel includes Arabsat CSO Hadi Alhassani, Iridium CEO Matt Desch, SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen, and OneWeb CEO Neil Masterson.
Day two opens with Sunil Bharti Mittal — OneWeb’s executive chairman following Bharti Enterprises’s $1 billion investment — delivering SATELLITE 2021’s opening keynote. “The Future of Global Satellite Connectivity” panel features SES CEO Steve Collar, SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell, and others.
Day three’s luncheon keynote, “Cultivating Diversity in Corporate Culture and Entrepreneurship,” features Debra Facktor of Airbus, Lori Garver of Earthrise Alliance, and others. The event closes with Sir Richard Branson, fresh from his July 11 Virgin Galactic test flight to space, delivering a fireside chat on the future of human space exploration. VS
