Space Business Podcast #109 - Chiara Manfletti, Neuraspace: Space Traffic Management
Aug 17, 2023
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COO Chiara Manfletti, from Neuraspace, discusses space traffic management and the challenges of collision avoidance maneuvers. They explore the interconnectedness of space situational awareness, space domain awareness, and space traffic management. They also discuss the concept of a circular economy in space and highlight startups working on it. The episode concludes with a discussion on favorite science fiction and promoting the podcast.
NeuSpace has raised $28 million to develop their AI-based platform for space traffic management, aiming to bring automation and data fusion to ensure sustainable and profitable operations.
Space situational awareness (SSA) focuses on tracking objects in space, while space traffic management (STM) coordinates movements to avoid collisions, with the additional aspect of managing space debris and ensuring sustainability.
The increasing number of satellites in orbit highlights the importance of effective space traffic management to avoid collisions and safeguard active satellites and the space environment.
Deep dives
NeuSpace: Space Traffic Management
NeuSpace is a startup specializing in space traffic management, with a focus on software as a service solutions. They have raised $28 million to build their AI-based platform which ingests data from various sources to issue warnings and generate maneuvering advice for operators in high-risk conjunction situations. The company aims to bring AI, data fusion, and automation to space traffic management to ensure sustainable and profitable operations. They see the future of the company in developing autonomous spacecraft.
Space Situational Awareness vs Space Traffic Management
Space situational awareness (SSA) and space traffic management (STM) are often used interchangeably, but there are differences between the two. SSA is about being aware and tracking objects in space, while STM focuses on managing the traffic and coordinating the movements of objects to avoid collisions. The field of space safety also comes into play, which includes managing space debris and ensuring space activities are sustainable.
The Importance of Space Traffic Management
Space traffic management is becoming increasingly important due to the growing number of satellites in orbit and the need to avoid collisions. Without proper management, the risk of collisions poses a threat to both active satellites and the space environment. Companies like NeuSpace are working to provide solutions that automate the process of monitoring the space traffic, issuing warnings, and generating maneuvering advice for operators to ensure safer and more efficient space operations.
Challenges and Gaps in Space Traffic Management
One of the challenges in space traffic management is coordinating the movements of active satellites to avoid collisions. There is a need for clear rules and collaboration between operators to ensure effective coordination. Another challenge is the need for more accurate data on the positions and trajectories of objects in space to improve the prediction of potential conjunctions. Additionally, the issue of space debris and the costs and responsibilities of space debris removal present further challenges that need to be addressed.
The Role of NeuSpace in Space Traffic Management
NeuSpace aims to provide a software as a service solution for addressing space traffic management challenges. Their platform ingests data from various sources and uses AI, data fusion, and automation to issue warnings and generate maneuvering advice for operators in high-risk conjunction situations. The company is working towards making operations more autonomous and enabling the development of autonomous spacecraft. They believe that industry leadership and technical solutions are crucial for the future of space traffic management.
Space Traffic Management continues to be a hot topic as we keep on hearing about companies like SpaceX having to execute large numbers of collision avoidance maneuvers. Portugal-based Neuraspace is focused on this and has raised a significant amount of money already to build their AI-based platform. COO Chiara Manfletti is our guest this week. Enjoy!
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0:00 Intro
2:09 Elevator pitch
3:00 Defining SSA, SDA, STM, etc.
5:43 How much we actually know
10:06 Data availability and gaps
12:28 Customers and market adoption
15:36 How concerned should satellite operators be?
17:22 Why aren't we seeing collisions all the time?
21:56 Active debris removal and the "tragedy of commons" in space
24:53 Business model
27:00 Right of way
32:49 Regulation
34:45 Incentives and insurance
39:55 Customers
40:17 Vision for Neuraspace
41:08 Use of funds
42:42 The Portuguese space ecosystem
44:46 How Chiara got involved with Neuraspace
47:47 What else is interesting in space?
49:18 Sci Fi
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