It’s time to figure out global space traffic management
Summary
The recent acquisition of geospatial intelligence firm Orbital Insight, which has a satellite imagery search engine platform, by Privateer, the Steve Wozniak startup that came out of stealth to raise $56 million in Series A funding, may have important consequences for how we manage space traffic.. It stresses end-to-end vertical integration, cross-functionality, and newfound alignment between the Earth observation segment thanks to the two companies’ focus on imagery and analytics aggregation, space traffic management and situational awareness. As originally reported by Reuters, this will see Orbital’s TerraScope Earth observation platform — a search engine of aggregated satellite imagery — combined with Privateer’s satellite-tracking software. The exponential increase in satellite launches, and the modern world’s reliance on the eyes in the sky for everything from disaster management and supply chain monitoring to defense create another mounting problem: space debris. There’s a need to articulate wide-ranging principles that underlie the ethics of collective cosmos, and inculcate a conscientious sense of responsibility, trusteeship and kindred spirit among us shared inhabitants of the same pale blue dot.