Keynote Speaker: Doug Engelhardt, Ph.D.
Biography
Doug is Technical Fellow for Next Gen Satellite Navigation Systems at Maxar Technologies. He has served various roles in team management, system design, mission design and operations at Maxar. Doug has contributed to space policy in the National Space Council’s Space Policy Directive-3, the Space Safety Coalition’s Best Practices, and the FCC’s Orbital Debris Mitigation Rulemaking. He began his career as a Navigation Team member for the Magellan Venus orbiter mission at NASA/JPL. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue and a PhD in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Abstract
Becoming aware of threats is a first step to prepare for action. Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space Domain Awareness (SDA) are precursors to strategic protection and defense, space traffic management, debris mitigation, and debris remediation. I will give a high-level view of SSA, SDA, and Space Traffic Management (STM) from a satellite operator’s perspective. Interdisciplinary aspects of STM – technical, economic, political, strategic, and legal – will be discussed in the context of the space community’s evolving global STM system. Maxar owns and operates a constellation of high-resolution imaging satellites, flying in an increasingly crowded low earth orbit neighborhood of debris and maneuvering satellites. Processes and tools used by Maxar to avoid collisions will be reviewed, along with Maxar’s new capability of Non-Earth Imaging (NEI) of other space objects. Necessary collaboration between all stakeholders will be highlighted – collaboration that is key in preserving our space environment for generations to come.