With the retreat of the glaciers at the end of the last major ice age began the current (official) geological epoch – the Holocene. It is argued across the science community that the Holocene has, in reality, given way to the Anthropocene – the (proposed) new geological epoch dating from the beginnings of significant human impact on Earth’s geology and ecosystems, including, but not limited to, anthropogenic climate change.
The qualitative and quantitative measure of the degree (no pun intended with reference to rises in sea surface temperatures) of this human impact has become increasingly sophisticated and accurate with advances in orbiting Earth observing (EO) technology. This technology which, as well as gathering data for well-established areas of remote sensing research, examples being meteorology and land-use monitoring, has in the time of pandemic enabled valuable data collection from measurement of reductions in atmospheric concentrations of polluting gas emissions over usually gridlocked cities, and observations on, even highly localized, population movements and social distancing regulations observance. (I wrote more on this in my column here back in May this year.)
While the impact of our species on the planet does certainly justify the identification of humans’ very own geological epoch, homo sapiens does not have total dominance, as recurrence of disease obviously illustrates. Not only the likes of COVID-19, originating from a “novel” virus (which, like the viral causes of bird ‘flu, swine ‘flu, SARS, and MERS before, is ‘zoonotic’, jumping the animal-human interspecies gap), but a myriad of others, from the rare and exotic, to the commonplace and annually recurrent. Some, the self-induced consequence of life-style choices and mistakes. Some, responsive to our clinical treatments and medical technologies, others which spread beyond our capabilities to arrest. This could be either because developed-world medicine is not yet up to the mark, or because, even with access to the satellite communications technologies underpinning telemedical applications and the sharing of clinical knowledge, the limited medical infrastructures of remote and developing regions are compromised by sheer numbers, scale and magnitude of the malady of any particular time.
Another reminder of our not having total sway over nature is also illustrated by the impact of the earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones/hurricanes/typhoons, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, floods, droughts, famine, etc., to which I referred in my previous column, in June, in connection with the satellite industry’s (and GVF’s) work in humanitarian assistance and disaster response initiatives.
Pandemic has not only brought the world’s magnifying glass to the vital contribution of satellite communication technologies to dealing with such crises, but also to the importance of innovative EO technology and to its applications, some of which have actually been born out of these unprecedented circumstances.
In being required to socially distance, to work from home, and to get used to remote communications through cyberspace on virtual meetings platforms, we are actually, directly, experiencing the imperatives of an intensified reliance on internet connectivity that will depend on a satellite component somewhere in the “network”. We also have the opportunity to take a reflective step back, interact and discuss, consider and evaluate, how our communications (and Earth observing) technologies as a whole have mitigated the worst of the effects of the crisis, holding on to as much of “normal” existence as possible. However, during our reflections we might come to call into question our previous certainty that the then “normal” was a good thing. There is no one answer to this, and we will all have our own.
In the context of today’s public health circumstances, our communications technologies have been the only resource that we have had at our disposal to enable us to talk about those very communications technologies. We have not had the baseline of in-person meetings, workshops, conferences, exhibitions, etc. We have had to be creative in building a greater digital reality than the one we had before. Once, the webinar was usually just an option, a convenience, borne out of a preference to overcome sometimes significant distances between interlocutors by digital means, rather than by standing in security queues/lines and accruing airmiles. Now, the webinar is borne of a different necessity, of rules and regulations governing the preservation of even very little distances between us.
Obviously, one of the advantages of webinars on platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams is that they can be recorded and their content can therefore be accessed after the actual live event, extending their potential audience to one much greater than the largest of physical meeting venues could ever accommodate, and extending the life-span of the content for as long as the theme of the dialogues have continuing relevance, and the subject maintains an interested audience.
GVF’s own Webinar Series, taking place on Zoom on alternate Thursdays, kicked-off on 21 May with an evaluation of ‘The Satellite Industry’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic’. This was a follow-up to our earlier researches which had already been published on the GVF website at https://gvf.org/news/satellite-industry-response-to-covid-19/. This theme was followed on 4 June by ‘WRC-23: Spectrum Dialogues in a Post-Pandemic World’, and on 18 June by ‘Space Segment Disruptive Evolution: GEO, MEO & LEO – Does a Global Crisis Make a Difference?’ Readers may review detailed descriptions of these sessions, as well as use links to the recorded discussions at https://gvf.org/news/category/online-events/.
At time of writing, and looking ahead to the upcoming schedule of topics, 2 July will see the discussion theme focused not on the pandemic crisis itself, but on that consequence of officially directed disease response strategy that is maintenance of social distancing and remote working, usually from home. In asking the question, ‘Will Working from Home Render the Cloud a Different Animal?’ the 2 July event will explore the interrelationship of satellite and the Cloud, examining if the social distancing-related/public health crisis phenomenon of a mass migration to WFH has impacted satellite, has impacted the Cloud, and more precisely has impacted this developing satellite-Cloud interrelationship.
The schedule for GVF’s later webinars, as planned at 29 June (subject to change should circumstances dictate), and going through to early December 2020 is intended to cover a broad sweep of topics:
• 5G & Satellite: Driving Forward the ‘Network of Networks’
• Ground Segment: Transformational Antennas I – End of the Parabolic Paradigm?
• Ground Segment: Transformational Antennas II – Will terminals realise the promised LEO Connectivity Revolution?
• Serving Underserved Communities
• GEO / MEO / LEO – Satellite in the Finance Markets
• Global Transitions: Digital Economy, Digital Infrastructure, Connected Communities
• The Building of Space 2.0
• The Regional Satellite Operators’ Voice
• Humanitarian Assistance & Disaster Response: The Evolving Role of Satellites in Disaster Response
• Mobile Again! ‘Days After the Pandemic’
• Unmanned Aircraft Systems 2027: Integrating 10 million drones into Communications, Navigation & Surveillance
See you in cyberspace during the Webinar Epoch!
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Martin Jarrold is Vice-President of International Program Development of GVF. He can be reached at: martin.jarold@gvf.org
