ORBITAL DEBRIS: Prospects for Mitigation, Situational Awareness and Removal

Dr. Bryan Benedict serves as Senior Director of Innovation and Satellite Programs at SES Space & Defense. During his career he has worked extensively within both the DoD and US Civil Agencies to socialize the advantages of hosting imaging payloads on commercial spacecraft.  Additionally, Dr. Benedict has been a key advocate in the commercial industry for the use of space robotics for both recovery and life extension of geosynchronous satellites.

Prior to his current position Dr. Benedict served as the Product Line Manager for Commercial and Civil Hosted Payloads at Intelsat General Corporation, Director of Hosted Payloads at Intelsat, Director of Engineering for Satellite Bus & Launch Service Acquisitions at PanAmSat and was a System Engineering Manager at Hughes for the BSS601HP product line.

Dr. Benedict started his career as a chemical engineer in the petroleum industry – inventing and patenting several catalysts still used for stabilization of jet fuels.  Dr. Benedict earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1986, where he conducted research on the stabilization of high energy materials within crystalline lattices.

Dr. Benedict has been awarded a number of patents throughout his career – the latest for delivery of microsatellites to orbit piggybacking on the nadir deck of geosynchronous communication satellites.

Dr. Victor Aguero, a co-Founder of Cambrian Works is now serving as CEO and CTO. Cambrian Works is a startup focused on developing the commercial potential in space through the establishment of key space infrastructure.  Cambrian Works is currently supported through a combination of Space Systems Command, Space Development Agency, and National Science foundation funding, as well as initial commercial sales of space networking products.

Until mid-2020, Dr. Aguero served as a Senior Principal Research Engineer at SRI International, where for nearly 23 years he worked as a space technology developer and architect. His primary areas of interest had been space systems and advanced technology related to small satellites, satellite constellations, and enabling novel space missions. Dr. Aguero founded the small satellite program at SRI supporting the DoD/IC community by focusing on technology innovations, developments, and mission concepts during the mid-2000s through 2020. While at SRI, Dr. Aguero’s work led to eight patents, over 15 publications in refereed journals, and participation in over 13 on-orbit missions. His most recent work focused on communications and networking architectures for LEO constellations and clusters, and applications of robotic space systems.  The Cambrian Works team is now applying associated developments to commercial space.

Prior to joining SRI, Dr. Aguero worked two Space Shuttle missions carrying out research and engineering for the NASA Tethered Satellite System (TSS-1, 1992), its re-flight (TSS-1R, 1996) and associated payloads. During his graduate student years, Dr. Aguero also helped found and lead the Stanford University Small Satellite Program through the late-1980s to early 1990s. Dr. Aguero holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and a B.S. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Alan DeClerck joined LeoLabs in 2016 as Vice President, Business Development and Strategy. In addition to growing the company’s customer base, Alan is tasked with marketing and strategic partnerships for LeoLabs.

Alan brings enterprise as well as startup experience in support of the LeoLabs mission, and a background in evangelizing and commercializing disruptive technologies in areas outside national jurisdiction. For nearly two decades at Sun Microsystems, he held numerous positions in sales, corporate development, business strategy and partner marketing. He led business development and marketing at FirstPerson, Sun’s Java startup in Palo Alto, CA in 1992, and drove key Asian and European partnerships as Director in Sun’s corporate development organization. He was subsequently appointed head of Sun’s international alliances organization, based out of Geneva, where he was responsible for partner sales activities across EMEA, Asia Pacific and Latin America. His other roles at Sun included Global Executive for the Sun/Oracle Business Unit.

Alan has since contributed to multiple successful IPO’s and startups. Between 1998 and 2000, he held executive positions in two early stage companies, as Vice President and General Manager of Beyond.com, and Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations for Skystream Networks. Alan also served as Executive Director, Ventures & Licensing at SRI International, and more recently, responsible for Data Services and Sales at Liquid Robotics. DeClerck holds a Master of Philosophy degree in International Relations from Oxford University, where he specialized in international law of the seas and strategic studies. He also earned an M.B.A. from Stanford University, and a bachelor’s degree from Brown University in International Relations.

Tim is the Chief Strategy Officer and US General Manager at ClearSpace, providing strategic and technical leadership as the company develops core technologies needed to deliver a wide range of In-Orbit Services (IOS) to government and commercial clients. Prior industry experience includes senior engineering management roles with OneWeb and Orbcomm, where he spent more than 25 years developing and operating low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellations for global communications while advocating for responsible stewardship of our shared, orbital, natural resources.  Tim has published and spoken extensively on matters related to orbital debris and space sustainability, and has served on a variety of boards and working groups to promote safe and sustainable practices.

Dr. Martin joined Astroscale U.S. in August 2019 as SVP of Operations and Programs. She brings many years of space technology management, operations, and engineering expertise to the Astroscale team.

Dr. Martin previously held the position of the Director, Orbital Solutions at General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS). She was responsible for the management and technical performance of the engineering staff and delivery of projects, including planning and managing technical and programmatic solutions to ensure quality, business, and financial objectives were met.

Prior to joining GA-EMS, Dr. Martin was the Chief Operating Officer at Surrey Satellite Technology US, where she led the Surrey project management and engineering teams. As a member of the Surrey Satellite US executive team, Dr. Martin managed the bidding, negotiation, and execution of projects, and was responsible for ensuring the company’s cost-effective methods were appropriately applied to the execution of programs.

Dr. Martin joined Surrey Satellite US from Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. in the United Kingdom, where she held several positions including the Head of Telecommunications and Navigation business unit, encompassing the Galileo payload programme. Prior to Surrey, Dr. Martin was a project manager and scientist at QinetiQ.

Dr. Martin earned a Master of Science in astrophysics and a Doctorate in mathematics and computational sciences from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.