Ph. by SpaceX on Pexels.com di Patrizia Vassallo Mentre solleviamo lo sguardo verso il cielo notturno, è sempre più frequente scorgere i treni luminosi di Starlink o le scie dei vettori che traspor…
As we gaze up at the night sky, it's increasingly common to glimpse Starlink's luminous trains or the trails of launchers carrying Amazon Kuiper satellites. We're witnessing an undertaking unprecedented in its boldness and scale in the history of space exploration. However, the excitement over this global connectivity hides a logistical challenge the industry can no longer ignore. As noted by Dave Barnhart, industry veteran and CEO of Arkisys, in an interview with Hugh Taylor and Marc Feldman, founders of the Center for the Study of Space Crime, Piracy, and Governance (CSCP&G), an independent, nonpartisan think tank whose purpose is to serve as a policy resource for government officials and business leaders on issues related to space governance, sovereignty, trade, law, crime, and space piracy, the real challenge is no longer just getting satellites into orbit, but figuring out how to manage them when they inevitably begin to age or fail.
With Kuiper and Starlink, we are entering a new era...
Barnhart's perspective stems from a career spent at DARPA and the Air Force Research Laboratory. For him, the transition from geostationary orbits (GEO) to low-level orbits (LEO) represents a genetic mutation in the space industry.