Tuesday, 07 May
10:30 – 12:00
The CLEO Hub Theater
Space Optics is a high-profile and universally inspiring part of photonics research and industrial effort. Great telescopes in orbit, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, provide researchers with tools to test and refine profound predictions of astrophysics through high-resolution imaging of distant objects. Space-based telescopes are also used to study critical processes on Earth. For example, the ATLAS instrument on ICESAT-2 applied LiDAR to study the dynamics of ice sheets around our planet’s polar regions. Within the last eight years, science payloads such as NASA’s Cold Atom Lab and an array of instruments aboard the Chinese National Space Agency’s Tiangong-2 space station performed quantum atomic and quantum optical experiments in orbit, relying heavily on advances in optics and photonics instrumentation. Beyond science, private corporations and government-led projects worldwide plan to launch communication satellite fleets linked with laser terminals. New challenges exist in deploying the scalable and high-performance optical instruments required to meet the objectives of future communications and science missions.
The optical panel discussion for Space Optics brings together leaders in the field to discuss the state of the industry, key open-science questions to be addressed with optics in space and to share career-development perspectives with the CLEO community.
Moderator
Makan Mohageg, Boeing, USA
Panelists
Zachary J. Lapin, Technical Program Manager, Fibertek, USA
Lute Maleki, CEO, OEwaves, USA
Chris Maloney, Managing Director of US Operations & Director of Business Development, VPIphotonics, USA
Thomas Wood, Senior Director, CACI, USA