Invisible, Indispensable Infrastructure

Our world is supported by infrastructure that no one can see. It keeps computer and communication networks running. It detects hurricanes and wildfires as they form and tracks the carbon driving climate change. It guides ships and aircraft, connects homes and schools, battles disease and uncovers illegal activity.

Unlike other infrastructure, it consumes no concrete or asphalt and needs no heavy steel beams for support. It circles the entire Earth, but your eyes never see it nor do your fingers ever touch it. It is the network of communication and observation satellites orbiting the world, thousands in number and growing fast. Day in and day out, they generate knowledge, share information and experiences and help protect, feed, inform and connect us. Without the invisible, indispensable infrastructure of satellite, life as we know it would be impossible.

Podcast

Invisible, Indispensable Infrastructure, Episode 2: A Better Satellite World for All Nations

In the second episode of Invisible, Indispensable Infrastructure, we hear from Aarti Holla-Maini, Director of UNOOSA, a true champion of the peaceful uses of space and its development.

Aarti Holla-Maini is the Director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), having taken up post on September 18 following her appointment by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. Ms. Holla-Maini brings over 25 years of experience in the space and satellite sector, working predominantly with international organizations and regulators. Prior to the United Nations, she held the post of Secretary-General of the Global Satellite Operators Association. Ms. Holla-Maini is a recognized leader with a strong track record in forging public-private and cross-sector partnerships; high-level advocacy at the international level; strategic communication and managing diverse stakeholders.

Under her leadership, Ms. Holla-Maini expanded the association from being a regional organization to a global one representing commercial satellite operators around the world. She was one of the chief architects of the Crisis Connectivity Charter established in 2015 for emergency telecommunications via satellite with the UN World Food Programme’s Emergency Telecommunications Cluster and has, on multiple occasions, secured recognition and policy support for space technologies to play their rightful role in connecting the unconnected, in Europe, Africa and beyond.

This podcast series is underwritten

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Videos

The Better Satellite World campaign shows the world why our industry, though often invisible, is indispensable to modern life, through powerful stories and videos that depict space and satellite technologies contributing to the economy, society and sustainability of planet Earth. Watch the videos below to learn about just a few of the ways satellites support modern life: