For Sam Sharma (pictured), satellite systems engineer at Starfish Space Inc., an interest in space started early — all the way back in the fifth grade. It started with a class project focused on the solar system.

“We had to choose a planet, and I still remember I chose Neptune,” she said. “It was gorgeous. It looks like a blue gem. I had all of these pretty pictures, and I learned about the planets. The gas giants are just so different from us. That just blew my mind. I had no idea before that point.”

That lifelong fascination with the solar system inspired Sharma to get into aerospace engineering, and she eventually landed a position at Starfish, an aviation and aerospace component manufacturing company. It’s a position that has given her a front-row seat to some exciting projects.

Sharma discussed those projects and the pressing issues in space today with theCUBE host Savannah Peterson at the Women in Data Science Worldwide Conference, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the issue of space debris and what society’s next collective space goal should be.

Orbital debris a big problem to solve as society sets a path forward

Orbital debris has been a big problem highlighted by NASA and others in recent years. The ease of launching satellites nowadays means this is a problem to tackle now, according to Sharma.

“Anyone can launch a spacecraft if they really want to, but that means that there’s so many spacecraft in orbit now, and we really have to do something or there’s higher risk of them colliding, creating more space debris,” she said. “In the future, if we don’t act, I think we could be trapped on Earth. Because then if we try to get to the moon or to get to Mars, it’ll be hard to navigate around all of this debris.”

Space was one of the catalysts for high-performance computing and the rise of processing power, among other things done today. Space really does transform the way society views these technologies, according to Sharma.

“Space provides a platform for us to see what AI can really do. So, our spacecraft, we’re actually wanting to run it all autonomously. It would go to our client satellite and dock with it or connect with it,” Sharma said.

Data is really key to that taking place. It all begs the question: What excites Sharma about where we’re at in our exploration today versus where we might be going in the future?

It’s  incredible to witness our current stage in the odyssey of space exploration, according to Sharma. While past endeavors, such as the Challenger missions, marked significant milestones, society now stands at a crossroads, yet to determine its next unified objective in the cosmos.

“We don’t have an end goal yet. And, we did, for example, for the moon,” she said. “We had a goal of getting to the moon. And then we had a goal of getting to Mars. But I think right now people, and depending on which company you’re at, they have a different goal. As a collective society, we haven’t decided what our next goal is. It’s really exciting to be at these crossroads. I would really like to see us explore exoplanets more. I know it’s really difficult to do, but I think we can learn a lot.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE Research’s coverage of the Women in Data Science Worldwide Conference:

Photo: SiliconANGLE