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World Space Week 2021 celebrated women who are making contributions to the space sector and sciences. Some of Maxar’s female employees represented the company in World Space Week and other industry activities last week:

The role of women in the space industry

Maxar’s Sook Yee Loh, Senior Manager of Asia Pacific Customer Success, participated on a virtual Women in Space panel hosted by Singapore Space & Technology, Ltd. The other panelists represented NASA, Amazon Web Services and Network Integrity Assurance Technology (NiAT). The women on this panel shared their experiences and their perspectives on the impact women make in space science, technology and advancements. Loh observed that the space industry has evolved significantly in the past decade, and, as more industries start adopting space-based data and technologies, new opportunities to get involved in the space industry will be created.

Sustainability in the space industry

Jenny Gerson, Maxar’s Director of Sustainability, spoke at an event celebrating women in space hosted by the Space & Sustainability Initiative (SSI) at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Secure World Foundation. Gerson’s speech covered space sustainability initiatives, which include:

Advice to women entering the space industry

Anna Rubino, a Mission Director in Maxar’s Mission Operations Center, participated in the Women in Space virtual panel at the University of Colorado Boulder. The panel, organized by SSI with representatives from Secure World Foundation, International Institute of Space Law and SSI and a space law and policy analyst, discussed how women are contributing to the space industry. Anna gave this advice to women entering the space industry: “Your education should never stop. Find ways to continue to learn and grow, because if there is one thing we understand about space and technology, it’s that it’s always changing and evolving.”

Promoting government-commercial collaboration

Lisa Jones, Maxar’s Vice President of U.S. Government Programs, represented the company on an industry panel at Space Tech Expo 2021 titled “Strengthening the U.S. Position in Space Through Efficient, Fast and Reliable Collaboration Between Commercial, Civil and National Security.” Lisa joined executives from Northrop Grumman, Slingshot Aerospace and Aerospace Industries Association to discuss the interplay across the national security, civil and commercial sectors. During the discussion, she emphasized how industry’s ability to leverage commercial hardware can further provide opportunities to drive down costs for government customers. As NASA looks further into deep space exploration, including lunar and Mars missions, while maintaining a significant presence in low Earth orbit (LEO), integrating commercial capabilities will be more important than ever to continue advancements in both LEO and deep space.

Jones also pointed out how working closely with commercial companies allows NASA to focus on the big things and identify efficiencies through the private sector. She characterized it as a partnership that will keep America at the forefront of space exploration, both crewed and uncrewed.