Milbank LLP Transportation and Space partners Dara Panahy and Patrick Campbell participated in separate panels at the SATELLITE 2023 conference, which took place March 13–16, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Dara Panahy, leader of the Milbank’s Transportation and Space Group in Washington, DC, moderated a panel titled “Earth Imagery & Sensing for Private Industry: New Use Cases Driving Growth.” It is known that Earth observation satellites can capture complex data that can be molded and shaped to answer an infinite range of questions. Panelists presented some of the latest use cases from leading imagery and sensing companies, highlighting new applications for private industries, including energy, healthcare, agriculture, insurance, transportation and mining.
Patrick Campbell, also based in Milbank’s Washington, DC office, spoke on the panel titled “Addressing Critical US Satellite Spectrum Licensing, Sharing, and Orbital Resource Issues.” Panelists covered spectrum and orbital resources and discussed US spectrum/orbital issues affecting the satellite, new space, and launch communities, such as pending FCC rulemaking and licensing proceedings that will directly impact the future of the space industry in the US. They discussed open issues including preserving satellite spectrum (such as 12 GHz); sharing requirements for new LEO constellations; new spectrum allocations to support commercial space launches and spectrum and rules for new space services such as rendezvous and proximity operations.
The conference was covered by news outlet Communications Daily, which was dubbed “the bible of the telecom industry” by the Washington Post. Reporting on space deployment milestones, the publication included commentary by Mr. Campbell, who stated, “A growing number of space operators are going to face difficulty meeting their milestone deadlines for deployment, and the FCC needs to craft a policy response.” Mr. Campbell also noted, “The problem is licenses given before the pandemic facing delays due to COVID-19 and supply chain issues, plus a launch supply bottleneck and needing more time.”
Mr. Panahy’s practice focuses on the representation of satellite operators, aerospace manufacturers, launch services providers, communications companies, banks, private equity firms and hedge funds in debt and equity offerings, project, structured and vendor financings, mergers & acquisitions, financial restructurings and in negotiating commercial contracts. Mr. Campbell’s practice focuses on transactional, corporate and regulatory matters. He has worked extensively on such matters on behalf of numerous domestic and foreign telecommunications, satellite, media and Internet companies.
The SATELLITE conference has been universally recognized as the meeting place for the global space and satellite communities, including professionals in commercial markets benefiting from satellite technology and applications, such as government, military, broadcasting, media & entertainment, aviation, maritime, automotive, financial, and telecommunications, among others.
