ROOM
32
Space Security
W
e use the term satellites every day,
but what does this word really mean?
The first use of the term satellites
goes back to the discovery of the
telescope and Galileo’s discovery of the moons of
Jupiter. He needed a name to describe these small
objects, rapidly rotating about the giant planet,
which was named after the powerful king of the
gods, master of the sky and thunder of the
ancient Romans.
In Latin, a satelles (or plural satellitis) was an
attendant or servant of a powerful person, often
a slave, scurrying about doing the bidding of
its master. This seemed an appropriate name
for these newly discovered objects, and so they
became known as satellites.
Satellites,
invisibly
embedded in
many aspects
of our modern
lives, are our
servants in
space
Creating the future for
space applications and
their regulatory needs
Over the past six decades the world has moved through a number of very
different eras and now anticipates a fascinating, yet uncertain, future in
space. Our ability to make use of the immediate vicinity of our planet has
multiplied from the first lone Sputnik satellite to more than a thousand
satellites today. What are the primary satellite applications and what are
their evolving regulatory needs? How will we meet these new requirements,
and who will take responsibility for these, so that our satellites can continue
to provide their vital services? In short how do we create the future?
Scott Madry
Executive Director,
the Global Space
Institute, North
Carolina, USA
