They can call it what they want. I call it “UNsocial distancing.” Let’s face it, living life online sucks. It always has. It always will. I’m sorry. I just like being with people. I like schmoozing. I like talking – about anything. I even can tolerate close talkers who spit a little – although not these days!
I am totally grateful to have a secure place to stay-in-place, a job and the food security that makes living through a pandemic in New York City bearable. And I am good with my high-speed Internet and distributed-work situation, which SSPI implemented years ago.
We haven’t missed a beat.
But I miss:
- Going to conferences and having a laugh listening to Mike Antonovich.
- Moderating panels and getting to ask questions on behalf of the audience that educate me more than anyone.
- Audience applause!
- Being part of that echo chamber where, after two days, everybody is passing along the same information as if infected with gossip.
- Going to booths and booth parties. (Especially those of companies from Belgium, where the beers are amazing! I sure hope ST Engineering iDirect doesn’t cheap out and cut-off Newtec’s beer quality.)
- Hell, I even miss the jet lag!
But it must be so. In New York many have died. Our city’s lessons have been brutal and sobering. “Life is precious” is not a cliché any longer. It can end in a flash and many are saying their last goodbyes to families by Zoom, thanks to an ER nurse and her tablet. It has stopped me cold and kept me disciplined and distanced. But according to the Governor of New York we have saved at least 100,000 lives. And many are ones that have really, really counted: healthcare workers, cops, firefighters, transit workers, postal workers and the folks who deliver mail and vegetables.
So not having Belgian beer at a trade show is a small, temporary sacrifice. Not having big crowds to watch SpaceX launch astronauts into space for NASA next week is a temporary sacrifice. You can watch it online with the rest of the nation.
While merely online it is good to be in the satellite industry. I am proud that while real heroes do battle with this epidemiological nightmare, the satellite industry is, as usual, keeping things going. And as usual we do it invisibly. Take weather for example. The plummet in commercial flights (down 97% in some cases) has left us with fewer measurements for weather forecasts. Or would. Fortunately, ESA’s Aeolus satellite mission is helping to fill this gap. Under normal circumstances, commercial aircraft equipped with sensors supply measurements of temperature, wind speed and wind direction in the atmosphere below 13 km. Without these measurements, the weather forecasts we take for granted everyday are much less accurate. And during planting season, that is no small seed.
Certainly in a time when doctor’s visits and elective procedures are on hold – and yet people fall sick – telemedicine is making rural life potentially more appealing for those of us who may have enough toilet paper, but want to get outside and walk without swerving around others now and then. And the role of satellites for contact tracing, as testing ramps up, may soon become obvious. As will its role in a global healthcare community that, like the Crisis Connectivity Charter in our industry, will mobilize assets during the next epidemic. https://www.sspi.org/cpages/crisis-connectivity-charter
And satellites carry an enormous burden as they continue to support farmers who continue to introduce “smart agri” techniques around the world, which yield more crops, manage logistics and serve as an increasingly critical provider of data.
Satellite 2020 was the last event I attended in the flesh.
What lies ahead? Who knows? If we are smart and follow the science, maybe I will be in Utah in August for Small Satellite Conference. I’ll be the guy wearing the mask with the #NewYorkTough logo.
Stay well.
PS: On May 14th I will moderate a panel on behalf of the SSPI India chapter on how our industry is supporting our key industries during the COVID-19 crisis. Please visit: https://www.sspi.org/cpages/chapter-affiliate-india or send an email to:
tbond-williams@sspi.org for details.
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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
