Robert Bednarek, a technology expert at CPB in the early 1980s, has died at age 55 after a battle with cancer, reports Space Policy Online.
Bednarek was CPB’s deputy chief scientist. SatNews, which covers the satellite industry, said that while at CPB, he “managed the research, development and application of new telecommunications and information technologies.”
Following his tenure at CPB, Bednarek founded a D.C.-based technology consulting firm, Rubin, Bednarek and Associates, and then joined PanAmSat (now Intelsat) as chief technology officer, overseeing operation of its fleet of communications satellites. From there he joined Dutch satellite operator SES, rising to president and c.e.o. of its SES World Skies division.
He was a consultant for the National Research Council’s influential 2009 study “America’s Future in Space: Aligning the Civil Space Program with National Needs,” and was inducted into the Society of Satellite Professionals Hall of Fame in 2011. Bednarek was a board member of the nonprofit Space Foundation, and held several U.S. patents involving GPS (Global Positioning Systems).