Privateer CEO Alex Fielding featured on Ars Technica expert panel on satellites and space debris
June 21, 2023
The amount of satellites launched, operated, and discarded in Low Earth Orbit continues to grow. All the while, gaps remain in present systems of tracking and sharing data on objects in space, as well as the international regulatory regime.
Ars Technica’s Ars Frontiers virtual conference set out to tackle the topic with an expert panel moderated by senior space editor Eric Berger. Given the leading role Privateer and its Wayfinder tool play in the effort to track and visualize human-generated objects in space, CEO and co-founder Alex Fielding joined to speak on the problem and potential solutions.
“We don’t have, in the public catalogs for how we track space objects, certain things that we certainly need that are making discrepancies in our space tracking larger,” he said. “We don’t know size, shape, material properties, things like fuel on board, which lead into drag and radiation profile, which feed our astrodynamics models that ultimately lead to larger discrepancies in the catalog because of known unknowns.
“The data is there; the data is not always publicly accessible. Is it accessible to university students putting a cubesat in orbit that has propulsion but may need to get out of the way of things or be responsible in that way? No, it’s not, by and large. So we all have to do a better job to close for those known unknowns so we can build a better and safer space environment. And we also have to set standards.”
Other panelists included NASA Associate Administrator for Technology, Policy, and Strategy Bhavya Lal and Astroscale VP of Global Space Policy and Government Relations Charity Weeden.
View Alex’s other comments and the panel in its entirety here: