A man receives a telegram reporting the death of his mother-in-law and asks for instructions. He immediately replies back: “Embalm, cremate, bury at sea. Take no chances!” One defining feature of the space and satellite industry is that it knows how to take risks but does not take chances.
It is where the reasoning of science and the logic of engineering met the vision of entrepreneurship and venture financing. These four are wonderful companions. And as such, we are an industry on the rise. Equally important, because of the kind of people we attract, grace is flowing in pursuit of the greater good. Perhaps this is because in the space and satellite community the only place to go is UP! And when you are looking UP, you are aspiring. I have always wondered why people lower their heads to pray. The object of their adoration is up - straight up – well beyond GEO.
This industry is among the few that has as a default model the collective task to make a better world. www.bettersatelliteworld.com In this fraught moment, that is like making jam from cement. Or vice versa. But our collegial nature makes us fully capable of taking on the BIG universal gorillas.
When it comes to the one shared challenge for every human being, the Climate, we are not only orbiting in the right location we are the essential “go-to” industry for supplying the solution.
Recognizing this, SSPI has launched a comprehensive campaign to help the world work through global warming and its related challenges, and to let the world know what we are doing about it. We have termed the project “Climate Sense.” In another era those who graduated from the “Old School” would have called it common sense. It is as clear as can be that now is time for the industry to step forward.
And that is what is happening.
Satellites, earth science and data modeling, like the guy who takes our bet on the Super Bowl, remind us constantly that our species has taken a chance with its climate. In fact, our climate sense tells us that we are preparing a bill for future generations. This one has a lot of zeroes for services not rendered to clean up an environmental mess they didn’t produce. And among those zeroes may include the cost of being on a planet bereft of, oh I don’t know, cities such as Miami, Osaka and Bangkok. (https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/12/coastal-cities-underwater-climate-change/)
It is presumptuous to say “here come satellites to the rescue.” But let’s say it anyway. There is no industry better suited to boost the goal of reversing climate change in the near-term than the satellite industry. Earth observation, satellite capabilities have long ago started to map coastline erosion, farmland changes and methane emissions. The data and services from orbit enable businesses and governments to make real reversals possible using real data. We KNOW what is happening to our ice caps and oceans and air because we have that eye in the sky.
To share this view from above and sustain this global conversation SSPI is combining its most popular platforms to make sure as many as possible who can use us know the role of satellites in managing climate-related issues.
John Kerry knows the role. In a post-Glasgow interview, the doe-eyed USA Special Envoy on Climate spoke about the progress that has been made generating the cooperation needed to take action. He reported on a commitment by countries representing 65% of the world’s GDP to work to limit the rise in the earth’s temperature of the earth to less than the 2% agreed upon in Paris. When a journalist asked how compliance would be assured, Kerry said “we have satellites.” It was the simple sound of assurance.
Political cooperation among nations is good news. The use of satellites to identify a problem and ensure compliance, or provide a commercial solution to solve it is, well, old news. It is satellites to the rescue when you wish to take no chances.
To learn more about the “Climate Sense” campaign contact tbond-williams@sspi.org. To learn more about the role SSPI plays to communicate the value of doing business with our industry, visit: https://www.sspi.org/cpages/about-sspi
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Lou Zacharilla is the Director of Innovation and Development of the Space and Satellite Professionals International (SSPI). He can be reached at: LZacharilla@sspi.org
