David Lingard has worked at Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) in Edinburgh, South Australia for over 29 years. Currently he is the Group Leader Space Autonomy with responsibility for leading DSTG’s small satellite experimentation and the development of trusted autonomy in Space systems. David attained a PhD in Physics from the University of Queensland in the 1990s. Earlier in his career, he supported a number of Defence projects related to airborne surveillance and reconnaissance, including leading the assessment of the Mariner Demonstrator Medium Altitude Long Endurance Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle in 2006. One of David’s previous roles was to coordinate DSTG’s participation in the 11-nation Responsive Space Capabilities Memorandum of Understanding. Later he led a team that developed a simulation of the Buccaneer small satellite mission to better understand the requirements for the space segment. David was the DSTG Project Manager for the successful Buccaneer Risk Mitigation mission conducted in partnership with the University of NSW Canberra in 2018. Since then his group led development of the follow-on Buccaneer Main Mission that launched in March 2025, and is now leading operation of the satellite in low Earth orbit.