You have only been in your role for a few months, but can you explain what will be involved in your new role?
I’m responsible for making sure that what we spend on independent research and development and our proposal efforts are aligned with our strategic company goals. I make sure that we are committing our money, capital and people to the right projects that are going to bear fruit for us in the longer term and help us to grow.
Primarily, I’m focusing on our work in the US and our relationships with NASA and the US Department of Defense. I will be regularly attending conferences to work on general business development relationships and make sure that we're aware of new opportunities as they arise. I will also meet with our current customers to help the company continue a close and tight relationship with them. That said, we work a lot with ESA and other international organisations too, so I will be collaborating with my colleagues in Europe and Asia who have strong relationships with those organisations respectively.
What is Teledyne’s main goal within space imaging?
Even in the short time that I have been working for Teledyne, we have expanded and taken on some big new projects. The team is also growing continuously, with several new people joining after me. During this period of growth, we want to make sure that we stay diversified. It's important that we continue to support national space projects, such as Space Force and the US Defense Department. However, we also want to increase our work with NASA and what you might call ‘classic astronomy missions’.
In other words, we don't want to be too top-heavy in one area because money comes and goes in different parts of the industry. As new administrations come and go in our government, spending priorities shift. So, we want to make sure that we are staying diverse and that we're putting ourselves in a position to utilise our pipeline and factory to their maximum potential over the next five years or more.
How is Teledyne’s team spread out to help you manage this goal?
We have teams in America, France and the UK under the wider Teledyne Umbrella. This gives us really good support internationally. For TIS the largest proportion of our team is based in the US. In Camarillo in California, where I am based, there are slightly over 200 people. We have a state-of-the-art set up there, including a large facility for our engineers and support staff.
What makes Teledyne Space Imaging stand out in the space industry?
I think it's all about the quality of our product. There’s an interesting divide right now in the international space market between major, established programmes that are carrying out cutting edge science missions and need the best capabilities they can get their hands on. Then, there’s another category, which is the new space market that is looking to source products at the lowest cost. They are thinking more along the lines of, ‘can we just fly commercial low-cost sensors and add in a few other processing type tricks to make them good enough to get the job done?’
I think that Teledyne has been enjoying a fair amount of success on the former side where we have not only built up a reputation for providing the world's greatest detectors, but also for customising them in a way that you wouldn't get from somebody who is simply turning the crank and providing high quantities of sensors with less regard to their quality. However, this is changing, and we are now meeting up more and more at conferences and exhibitions with newer companies operating in the commercial space sector. They want products quickly and have got money to spend as they are often investment backed.
How is Teledyne Space Imaging preparing to work with commercial space companies like these?
We have already enjoyed some great successes with younger start-ups interested in our imaging sensors and cameras. For example, a few years ago, the United States Space Force Space Development Agency started exploring innovative new approaches missile warning and tracking from low-Earth orbits. They launch new satellites every two years to facilitate this and want the associated technology to keep pace. Thanks to the fact that that we are both flexible and fast, we have been able to provide them with short lead times and high performing products they need at a cost that suited them.
What do you personally enjoy most about working in the space industry?
I studied at the University of Arizona, which has always been at the forefront of space exploration and science and have enjoyed working in the space sector ever since. I think what's really exciting about my career so far is that I have been able to work on national defence and military space, as well as more exploratory programmes for the likes of NASA and its Habitable World programme. Space is the new frontier. It’s where a lot of attention is directed internationally and where the market is really expanding. Everyone is looking at possibilities and how they can get involved and I am already here, working right in the heart of the action.
