To mark the illustrious career of SDA and industry legend, T.S. Kelso, our latest blog post looks at what inspired his career, his route to becoming an expert in his field, as well as his opinions on the most significant developments and challenges in-orbit.
Make sure to look out for part 2 which will be shared soon.
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How did your career lead you to space operations/astrodynamics?
I grew up in South Florida when the US was launching the Gemini and Apollo missions. Watching as those progressed to the eventual lunar landings motivated me to want to study physics and mathematics, which I did at the US Air Force Academy from 1972-1976.
After graduation, I was introduced to personal computing (TRS-80) in 1978 and initially worked on trying to use mine to predict the positions of the planets. Then in 1979, the local weather report in Kansas City predicted a pass of Skylab shortly before it re-entered. After watching that dot of light move across the sky, I decided then and there that “I want to know how to do that!”.
I then had the good fortune to be selected to attend the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) in their Graduate Space Operations (GSO) program, where I minored in astrodynamics. After graduation, I led the GPS operations team (1984-1985) and developed a deeper understanding of space operations.
Being selected to get my PhD at The University of Texas at Austin, then teaching at AFIT in the GSO program for six years, and then participating in two space-related future studies for the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, deepened my understanding of how astrodynamics is applied to space operations and my quest to make it more understandable to others.
- What do you think are the most significant developments you have seen in-orbit during your career?
For me, that was heading up analysis at HQ Air Force Space Command following September 11. We were conducting military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq where we depended heavily on communications being relayed via commercial GEO communications satellites.
As I came to realize that nobody was screening these objects for potential collisions in GEO, it became obvious we needed to find a way to effectively and efficiently do that. As I learned more about that issue, I became determined to find a way to do that for all operational objects in Earth orbit.
The development of SOCRATES on CelesTrak showed what was possible and provided a framework for collaboration with commercial and civil operators to continue to work that issue together. And ultimately, that led to the creation of the Space Data Association and the Space Data Center.
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What do you feel is the most significant challenge to have arisen within space in the last 10 years?
The biggest challenge today is to modify our behavior on the need to protect Earth’s orbital environment while conducting operations in space. Up until recent years, many people misunderstood the degree to how that environment was being changed by human activity.
Initially, many seemed to think that space was a big place and that little that we could do would significantly change that or cause problems for safety of flight. However, just like with Earth’s oceans, the space environment has limits, too. Out of sight and out of mind does not mean a problem does not exist and waiting until the problem is obvious requires a far greater effort to develop solutions to remediate the problem than preventing it in the first place.
ASAT tests and satellite collisions have gradually changed that misperception to one where many despair that we are too late to stop some ultimate calamity. Others are focused on the need for single solutions that will somehow unwind our past behaviors. But we did not get into this situation overnight and so no single solution should be expected to resolve it quickly, either.
We need to start by changing hearts and minds to accept that we need to work together to protect the space environment. We need to encourage those who want to help to imagine ways to approach the various aspects of the current situation to show how we can implement both near- and far-term solutions to make space sustainable.
The challenge—or the opportunity—is to get all parts of the space community to do their part. We can work today to screen active satellites for close approaches and move them, when necessary, to avoid collisions. We can work tomorrow to stop leaving objects—whether rocket bodies or aging satellites—in orbit beyond their intended use. And we can develop active debris removal technologies to remove things launched in the past and work to clean up things like failed satellites in the future. None of these solutions will fix the problem alone, but they all contribute to the solution and everyone can do their part.
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Do you feel there is enough legislation in place to manage STM?
Ultimately, we will need legislation or regulation to ensure that STM works. But in many cases, this tends to be reactive to perceived problems that create a sense of urgency, which can lead to solutions implemented (or imposed) by those that do not adequately understand the complex technical issues involved. In many cases, legislation can actually be counterproductive and inhibit safe and efficient use of space. And waiting until rules exist to do the right thing only allows the situation to worsen.
I personally believe the best approach is a collaborative one, where those trying to conduct satellite operations can address the technical issues in a way that mitigates the risk to their satellites and the space environment. That requires a willingness to be transparent and share data in a way that achieves those objectives. And they need to be willing to share the associated costs rather than depend upon governments to fund them.
That’s why I am proud to have supported the Space Data Association as it brought satellite operators from around the world into a framework that made that possible. Previously, many thought sharing orbital data among commercial competitors would be difficult to achieve, but we had great companies like SES, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Eutelsat, and many others come forward and show that they were willing to collaborate to mitigate the problems that were already on the horizon.
It will be the example of SDA—a truly global association—that provides the model for how to provide a sound STM system of the future.
To celebrate T.S as an industry-leader within Space Traffic Management, the SDA’s T.S. Kelso Award was launched in 2021.
The deadline to submit nominations for the 2022 T.S. Kelso Award has been extended until 1st July 2022. Submit your nomination now.
Make sure to look out for part 2 which will be shared soon.