For the past six years, the Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) has presented three young satellite professionals with its Promise Award in recognition of their potential to play a leadership role in the industry at the organization’s annual Future Leaders dinner in New York City. The award is an important part of the satellite industry’s effort to attract young talent to a rapidly aging domestic and international aerospace professional community.

Eligible candidates for the SSPI Promise Award must be no more than 35 years old and currently employed by a satellite manufacturer, launch provider, satellite communications provider or other service provider related to the industry. According to SSPI’ss guidelines, ìcandidates must have demonstrated initiative, innovation, creativity and/or specific problem-solving skills that positively impacted their company’ss financial performance, marketing effectiveness, technical advancement or research capabilities. 

As a preview to the upcoming 2012 SSPI Youth Leaders dinner, Via Satellite spoke with past winners of the award about the challenges that this year’ss winners and those to follow will likely face in their careers. The winners also talked about their own experiences in the satellite industry, as well as what attracted them to their profession.

In this feature, we speak with: 2011 award winners David Giger, director, Dragon propulsion and product development, SpaceX and Rohit Iyer Seshadri, senior member, Technical Staff, Hughes Network Systems; 2009 winners Max Kamenetsky, chief engineer, NBN Co Program, Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) and Stephano Poli, North Asia regional director, Marketing and Sales Telecommunication Business Line, Thales Alenia Space; 2008 winner Yvette Dominguez, section manager for Payload Design Engineering, SS/L; and 2007 winners Derek Edinger, manager of technology implementation, SS/L and Nick Mitsis, account supervisor, Environics Communications.

VIA SATELLITE: What initially motivated you to decide on a career in the satellite industry?

Giger: I’sve always been passionate about space exploration and sending people to new destinations. Satellite technology is a logical step in this quest and much technology development needed for deep space exploration can be demonstrated on earth orbiting satellites first.

Seshadri: I was eager to take on the technical challenges involved and explore theories and techniques that were state of the art. The evolution of standards for optimizing bandwidth was the subject of my doctoral dissertation. The industry seemed to give me an opportunity to follow through on creative ideas methodically and thoroughly.

Kamenetsky: The satellite industry is dynamic, innovative and rapidly evolving. At the same time, it is naturally risk averse, since a commercial communications spacecraft has to operate for 15 or more years in a harsh space environment. Balancing the requirement to have proven heritage products with the need to advance product capabilities and services that our customers can ultimately deliver is an exciting challenge and is unique to satellite engineering.

Poli: There are two main reasons why the satellite industry was a natural choice for me. First, as an engineer, I was attracted by cutting-edge technology, and second, I was looking for a truly international business environment where an interdisciplinary approach is essential to succeed.

Dominguez: In high school, I was interested in two areas: engineering and space. The satellite industry was a great way to cover both my interests. During my senior year in college, the aerospace/satellite industry was recruiting heavily and I saw this as an opportunity to pursue my interests.

Edinger: For me, building satellites is a very interesting science. The satellite industry is also fast-paced and always changing.

Mitsis: The excitement and innovative nature of the industry. I also liked the depth and reach of satellite technologyófrom military/government to consumer/broadcasting.

VIA SATELLITE: What do you think are the most important challenges that both current and future satellite industry professionals will face in the years to come?

Giger: Controlling and managing cost through technical innovation will be the biggest challenge. For the satellite industry to thrive, the cost per pound to orbit needs to decrease dramatically to enable more launch opportunities and technology development. The satellite industry should invest in improving power utilization by reevaluating the requirement for EEE parts and radiation shielding. By finding more synergy between terrestrial electronics and incorporating that into satellite avionics, the cost of satellite buses can be dramatically reduced.

Seshadri: In my field, the challenge is always to find ways to improve efficiency and performance as a means to reduce the cost of technology. You always have to consider a new approach and new alternatives to developing solutions.

Kamenetsky: The worldwide demand for broadband communications is proving to be insatiable. As a response, satellite communications is rapidly transitioning to utilize Ka-band technologies for an ever-greater number of applications. However, keeping up with the broadband demand will be a challenge and will call for innovative solutions, both in terms of spacecraft design and corresponding ground technologies.

Poli: When looking at the space telecommunication industry, it is evident that procurement remains very expensive for commercial operators. At the same time it is clear that we need to further increase manufacturers’s potential to invest in innovation. The current situation, if not improved, will affect the health of the whole industry, and in the long run reduce its ability to provide end-users with cost effective solutions with respect to terrestrial alternatives. Therefore, we collectively need to come up with reliable breakthrough cost-reduction approaches allowing not only to decrease capital expenditures for the operators, but also to relentlessly finance the research and development on the manufacturing side.

Dominguez: Satellite customers desire highly optimized performance with shorter and shorter delivery schedules. The challenge for the satellite manufacturers is to meet the customer’s high performance expectations and schedules without sacrificing technical compliance, quality, and reliability.

Edinger: The industry needs to continue to push technology, to innovate, and to be flexible to serve our customers while carefully balancing satellite reliability.

Mitsis: Increased competition from the fiber/ground segment. Terrestrial networks are becoming more advanced, are reaching farther and are advancing communications, especially in developing regions. The fight for spectrum will continue to be a challenge for the industry, as will advancing applications in bands beyond C- and Ku-.

VIA SATELLITE: What future satellite technology excites you the most? What should excite satellite professionals, especially young professionals, when it comes to the industry?

Giger: I’sm excited about all the opportunities in commercial space today. There continues to be substantial investment from players outside of the standard satellite arena and this is fueling innovations, jobs and ultimately technology advancement in the satellite industry. I’sd be most excited about avionics development and that enabling multiple missions beyond earth orbit over the next decade.

Seshadri: The technology is always exciting, but the industry’ss ability to improve the human experience is what is most fulfilling overall. As technology continues to evolve, young people should be excited about these opportunities and take advantage of them early in their careers.

Kamenetsky: Satellite communications brings the world closer together. For large parts of the world, satellite is the only cost-effective technology for bringing television and broadband communications to the population. It is exciting to be working in an industry that is so instrumental in improving the human experience.

Poli: The bottom line is to improve the quality of life for people around the world. We should be excited about being part of an industry that not only responds directly to that objective, but whose future technology will also be sooner or later ìflowed downî to other industries, multiplying problem-solving applications.

Dominguez: The worldwide explosion of digital content will continue to drive demand for both terrestrial and satellite communications infrastructure. I am excited for design and analysis opportunities for new communications payload architectures, such as flexible type payloads, and for the possibilities of very high frequency band applications, such as Q-band. These bring many challenges, but that’ss what keeps it interesting. There is a tremendous amount of opportunities in the industry given the many different disciplines and aspects to building a satellite.

Edinger: In the communication satellite market in which I work, we’sre working to connect not just worldwide businesses, but also individuals who have never been connected before. It is an exciting project to be a part of.

Mitsis: There will always be a requirement for satellite technology. It is also among one of the most innovative sectors out there. It connects people, commerce and governments; it supplies critical communications when others fail; it bridges remote villages with urban centers; and it enables next-generation applications and services to enter the market quicker.