Strategic advice to leverage new technologies

Ronald Birk, Lori W. Gordon, and Eleanor Mitch outline the factors behind the need for a system that dynamically updates space supply chain information. Along with higher demand, there is competition among sectors, such as medical device and auto makers, for certain commodities and many rare-earth elements. The authors propose a distributed ledger technology (DLT) system called “Space supply chain Topology for Assessing Risk (STAR)” that would create a nexus for all stakeholders in the space supply chain community. STAR would include trusted partnerships via information-sharing agreements, information wells that let partners leverage an array of structured and unstructured data, a network of cloud-based platforms that enable secure processing of data among partners across the space enterprise, data integrity via DLT, and assessments of priority items to discover weak areas in space supply chains. The article describes the four key risks STAR would identify and calls for community dialogue about a space enterprise solution that “shines a light on dynamically evolving risks.”

Sylvester Kaczmarek dives into the cybersecurity issues threatening current and future space exploration. In addition to bad actors who have targeted satellites by jamming, spoofing, and data hijacking, there’s the potential for spacecraft life-support, navigation, and propulsion systems to be hacked. Breaches that threaten communications between ground stations and their space assets are also possible, as is interference with the data streams that flow constantly between satellites and public and private entities. Kaczmarek advises a number of strategies for mitigating space-related cyber threats, including AI models that anticipate and prevent attacks before they occur, encryption methods resistant to quantum attacks, and international cooperation to harmonize regulations across countries.

Victor Heaulme takes a look at the space waste problem through a technology lens. He notes that the Kessler Syndrome (i.e., orbit overpopulation leading to object/satellite collisions that greatly affect space access) is becoming increasingly possible. Along with policy making, Heaulme describes technologies for more accurate tracking of space objects of all sizes, monitoring software that automates collision warnings, and technology that remotely removes objects in orbit. These include two systems that cause decaying orbits, one that uses a specialized satellite to push space objects and one that moves objects into a different orbit from Earth.

In this Advisor, Cutter Expert Curt Hall examines how retailers like Walmart, Wayfair, and Savage X Fenty are using GenAI, AR, VR, computer vision, digital twins, and social collaboration to improve the shopping experience.

The cloud has revolutionized the way businesses operate, offering unprecedented agility, innovation, and resilience. In this Advisor, Myles Suer stresses that the key to leveraging cloud investments isn't solely in cost-cutting but in enhancing the ROI by accelerating business outcomes and value delivery.

As we explore in this Advisor, information technology can be leveraged to maintain real-time inventories of carbon assets and could be used to create a system designed to meet specific GHG-mitigation goals.

In this Advisor, Cutter Expert Curt Hall examines key developments involving the use of GenAI in the retail industry, including examples of how Microsoft, Google, and Walmart are utilizing the technology to develop new products and applications that support conversational commerce.

This Advisor takes a closer look at interoperable energy microgrids enabled by blockchain, which can offer more choices to consumers, improve market efficiency by eliminating middlemen, increase resilience by decentralizing the network topology, and enable new marketplaces.