Inaugural Opening Lecture (Holly Ridings)
Title: Trust and Safety: Foundations for Human Space Missions
Tagline: Advanced technology enables exploration, but human safety defines its success — the principle guiding missions from Earth to the Moon.
Abstract: Space missions are built on advanced technology, but their success is defined by how well they protect human life. Safety culture provides the framework that aligns engineering, operations, and innovation with mission goals. This keynote will highlight how safety remains central as exploration expands from Earth to the Moon, ensuring technology always serves the people behind the mission.
Distinguished Opening Lecture (Dr. Oana-Alexandra Graur)
Title: Towards Security and Interoperability in Federated Space Missions
Abstract: As space missions increasingly adopt federated architectures involving diverse stakeholders, ensuring secure and interoperable communication becomes a critical challenge. Although terrestrial security protocols are well-established, their deployment in space is hindered by constrained hardware, intermittent connectivity, limited link budgets, and lengthy qualification and certification processes. Additionally, safety and contingency considerations take on new dimensions and significantly influence the design of security solutions. This talk explores the technical and interoperability challenges of applying such protocols in space environments, with a particular focus on the CCSDS security stack. Drawing on insights from recent missions, we examine the trade-offs between adapting existing Internet standards and developing space-native alternatives. Ultimately, the talk aims to identify key research directions and standardization gaps that must be addressed to support robust, secure collaboration in future federated space missions.
SatNEx Lecture (Prof. Gunes Karabulut-Kurt)
Title: Communications and Wireless Power Transfer for Lunar Surface Operations
Abstract: This lecture will explore the wireless systems for communications and power transfer for lunar surface operations. The trade-offs between radio frequency (RF) and free-space optical (FSO) technologies will be detailed. The challenges posed by lunar regolith and non-Gaussian additive noise will be discussed, with an emphasis on the need for robust and adaptive system designs.
ACM Distinguished Lecture (Prof. Zhu Han)
Title: Generative AI–Enabled Semantic Communication for Future Networks
Abstract: Semantic communication (SemCom), a prominent feature of 6G, aims to address communication problems at the semantic level by transferring semantic information accurately and efficiently. Advances in generative artificial intelligence (GAI), such as the development of large language models and improved generative capabilities, have significantly facilitated the implementation of SemCom. This talk presents three cases of GAI empowering SemCom: The first case is a Swin-Transformer-based dynamic SemCom system that optimizes semantic communication efficiency by dynamically adjusting the compression rate based on network conditions for multi-user scenarios with varying computing capacities. The second case is a federated learning framework designed to enhance global model performance in decentralized environments by leveraging Federated Local Loss (FedLol) for efficient aggregation, reduced communication overhead, and effective image reconstruction. The third case is an AI-generated content framework (AIGC-SCM) for remote monitoring, utilizing GAI to achieve high-fidelity reconstruction of compressed content while maintaining semantic consistency and optimizing energy efficiency. Experimental results and demo confirm the effectiveness of these methods and provide practical insights for integrating SemCom with GAI.
SatNEx Lecture (Prof. Eva lagunas)
Title: Space Communications in the 6G Era (Prof. Eva Lagunas)
Abstract: Delivering connectivity solutions to remote regions remains financially unfeasible for many terrestrial service providers. Non-terrestrial communication systems present a viable alternative, offering widespread and ubiquitous connectivity. This talk will begin by revising the evolution of satellite-based communications up to exploring the critical technological enablers that have made viable the satellite mega-constellation era. In addition, we will discuss a vision about the current and future research topics of long-term importance in the area of Satellite Communications and Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), along with the key operational challenges they face.