News and Notes of Interest to the Satellite Community

News and Notes of Interest to the Satellite Community

The abundance of recent news about NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope barely scratched the surface of what’s really happening with this unique space-borne observatory. The most important story about the Webb is how far along it is and how individual components are rapidly moving toward integration into subsystems and systems.

Dr. Akbari has more than 18 years of strategic, sales and marketing, product development and operational experience across many critical high-technology industries including software applications, IT services, security systems for homeland defense, telematics and location-based services, and telecom. Dr. Akbari has held senior management positions in TruePosition — a subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, Microsoft, Thales, Cambridge Strategic Management Group (CSMG), and worked as a scientist at CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research. She draws on her international experience including nine years in Paris, London, Beijing and Cape Town. She holds a Ph.D. with honors in particle physics from Tufts University and an MBA with distinction from Carnegie Mellon University. She is the author of more than 50 scientific articles in international journals and a frequent speaker at industry conferences and tradeshows. She serves as a judge at MIT $100K Business Plan Competition, is a member of the Advisory Council of the Johns Hopkins Department of Physics and Astronomy and The Loudoun County CEO Cabinet, and is a contributor to several nonprofit organizations. Washington Business Journal named Dr. Akbari among its “Women Who Mean Business” in 2008.

When SES-4 reaches its coveted orbital slot, it will be the 50th satellite in the growing SES fleet. The largest and most advanced of all SES spacecraft will bridge four continents, a clear illustration of the satellite operator’s partnership strategy aimed at helping its customers grow and expand around the world. SES-4 offers seamless coverage over the Americas, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

After a decade of domination by GSM standard second generation (2G) mobile phone networks, the world has embraced third generation technology (3G). Two-G systems laid a broad foundation for extending voice communication to the vast majority of the world’s population. Yet 3G holds even greater promise, enabling mobile operators to deliver both voice and data connectivity to subscribers and greatly expand their revenue potential.

As natural resource exploration across the globe has consistently experienced drastic changes over the past years, one subject remains at the forefront of the race for the next big find — the allocation and availability of new energy sources. Whether it’s delving into some of the deepest waters or charging into untapped terrains, the oil and gas drilling market requires robust communications now more than ever before to ensure mission success.

Campinas City, Brazil, is one of the 10 fastest growing cities in the world with just over a million people in 2010. Does the new growth show signs of urban/suburban sprawl? This study investigates a null hypothesis that growth in Campinas cannot be characterized as urban sprawl because the growth in urban land use/land coverage (LU/LC) is the same as the population growth during the same period. Land use/land coverage was measured using Landsat™ imagery from 1989 through 2010.

These are extremely challenging times for employers who need to acquire top level talent as well as for those seeking a career change. Today, companies’ economics compel them to re-assess their talent needs in order to remain competitive and drive growth. The satellite communications industry remains ripe with new opportunities. Employers are challenged with making a “great hire.” For the candidate, finding an opportunity can sometimes be a rather difficult proposition.