I was told early in my journalism education that it’s easier to teach a writer about a topic than to teach a subject-matter expert how to write to a broad audience on a relatable level. I’ve leaned pretty heavily on that advice during my career, especially when I made the jump from sportswriter to aerospace reporter.
I think I was the typical “space enthusiast” when I entered the aerospace and satellite sector. I have always been amazed by the technological accomplishments required to build rockets and place satellites into orbit and then move information around the globe.
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While I’ve certainly learned a lot about the satellite world over the past two decades, the learning curve was steep from day one — and remains steep to this day.
Beyond making the incredibly difficult task of building and launching satellites look routine, I also remember witnessing some of the ingenuity present in the satellite sector that is borne out of necessity. For example, I remember the launch of PAS-22 (then AsiaSat3) in 1997. The satellite was left in an unusable orbit due to an upper stage failure, but a group of people were able to place the spacecraft into geosynchronous orbit by flying it around the moon.
Satellite-enabled services have been present in the daily life of millions of people around the globe for a long time, from broadcasting to enterprise networks, from maritime communications to disaster recovery. I have no doubt that the satellite sector will continue to evolve and lead the communications of the future. VS
