Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is developing optical space telescopes. In one program, LLNL is working with Firefly Aerospace to send a wide field of view telescope into cislunar space. Credit: Firefly Aerospace

SALT LAKE CITY – It’s easy to talk about satellite autonomy but significant work remains to determine exactly which tasks should be handled by machines, according to speakers at the 2025 Small Satellite Conference.

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Debra Werner is a correspondent for SpaceNews based in San Francisco. Debra earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. She is a recipient...