Meet the Team Behind the Dream: Chief Space Systems Architect, Peter Stibrany

It’s time to meet the team behind the scenes, who are working to make the Space Solar dream a reality. Next up is our Chief Space Systems Architect, Peter Stibrany. With over 40 years in the technology sector, Peter has deep expertise in engineering space systems, with experience in large projects such as MSAT, Radarsat, and the International Space Station as well as in micro satellites and “new space”.

Hello Peter! Can you tell us a little about what you do?

Essentially a Space Systems Architect has a very similar job to a building architect: they determine the shape, structure, and design of all of the elements that need to work together to meet a requirement, and then supervise the construction of that system. 

Now let’s go back to the start — how did you get into SBSP?

The lunar landings made a huge impression on me, so I guess you could call me one of the children of Apollo!

I come from a long line of engineers, so I picked the University of Toronto Engineering Science, one of the very few undergraduate programs offering a spacecraft design element. Then graduated right into a major economic recession, so I was extremely lucky to get a job with one of the two major space companies in Canada. The back-up plan had been an advanced degree in something to do with airplanes.

At some point in the early 1980s, I read Gerrard O’Neill’s The High Frontier, which identified SBSP as uniquely offering the high levels of value needed to sustain Human Colonies in Space. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to participate since then.

What interests you most about SBSP, and the “new space” age?

Communications satellites have been, and continue to be, the commercial mainstay of the space industry. SBSP represents a vast new application area, because it directly addresses one of the most pressing problems facing humanity today – how to generate enough electrical power to meet our rapidly rising demand. “New space” is a much-needed revitalisation of an industry that arguably suffered from extreme levels of conservatism.

Why hasn’t it been done before?

The emergence of extremely light-weight structural materials and semiconductor technology, together with the creation of heavy-lift launch vehicles from SpaceX and Blue Origin is radically improving the economics of SBSP.

What makes Space Solar’s approach different, and how does your previous experience impact it?

One of the benefits of “new space” is the proliferation of organisation and approaches being taken to space system development. The executive group at Space Solar brings wide-ranging expertise in this area, gained not only from space but also from nuclear fusion, aerospace, and civil infrastructure. 

At MDA, I learned how large projects can be executed successfully. In other organisations, I learned to implement much smaller projects quickly and effectively. Both these sets of experiences inform how Space Solar’s technical architecture is developed.

And the most satisfying part?

Creating a renewable, low-carbon, cost-effective space system supplying electrical energy – an essential ingredient to life. Creating never-before-seen, yet affordable, and practical space systems is as much an art as a science, and as thrilling as any creative endeavour.

What’s one myth about SBSP you’d like to bust?

Most people have never heard of SBSP, so the first mission is to put the word out. Sometimes, when technical folk in the space industry hear about SBSP for the first time, it’s such a departure from what they’re used to that they immediately think it’s not possible or economically feasible. When we get a chance to talk with them at length, our objective is for them to end up saying “well, if you do it that way, I can see how it could work!”

What would you say to those who argue that SBSP satellites can’t be built due to their size?

I’d talk about some of the large-scale projects built in the past, chief among these being the UK’s Chain Home radar system built in the runup to WW2. That’s a terrestrial system but not hugely dissimilar to SBSP in what it does. Then I’d ask: have we fallen so far that we don’t attempt something big because it hasn’t been done?

And finally, what’s your favourite fact or figure about SBSP?

Each of the two CASSIOPeiA reflectors on our Eagle product would completely cover Hyde Park.