Global cooperation — between nations and between government and commercial efforts — is the key to a resilient and sustainable space future, panelists told SATELLITE 2025 attendees.
Boeing VP Michelle Parker (Space Missions, Systems Defense) said she is seeing growing discussions around whether every country needs its own constellation, or whether groups of countries can collaborate: “We think Medium-Earth Orbit is a great sweet spot.” Boeing is deploying the O3b mPOWER MEO constellation with SES. Multi-orbit constellations “give us an opportunity to put the right mission in the right place, and to get great capability in a blended environment with a lot of partners.”
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ESA Director of Connectivity Laurent Jaffart said the EU’s IRIS² multi-orbit constellation — ultimately 290 satellites — integrates existing governmental GEO comms satellites with commercial capabilities “to deliver sovereign, autonomous, secured connectivity to governmental users in Europe.”
Retired Space Force Maj. Gen. Clint Crosier, who led the Combined Space Operations Initiative (CSpO), said CSpO grew from the Five Eyes to ten allied nations (adding France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway) because “none of us had the capabilities individually to meet the overall mission requirement.” He stressed common standards for integration: “You have to operate on a standard system, whether it’s for command and control or for data integration.” He highlighted Amazon’s cloud-based CMOC as enabling flexible, distributed command and control.
Marlan Space CEO Hamdullah Mohib (UAE) proposed “constellation-as-a-service” for nations that need sovereign access but can’t afford to own a full constellation: “Not everybody needs to own a constellation.” Marlan is building a facility in Abu Dhabi with capacity for up to 50 satellites per year, targeting demand from the UAE, neighboring nations, and Southeast Asia. VS
