[Fall Break] Space Informatics

Space Informatics

A module offered by the Chair of Dependable Systems and Software, planned as a block course in September/October 2026. It is worth 6 ECTS credits.

Context

Space technology is experiencing an unprecedented expansion, commonly referred to as the “New Space” paradigm.

Large satellite mega-constellations, comprising thousands of spacecraft, are being deployed primarily in near-Earth orbit to provide global Internet connectivity and near real-time imaging. This is enabled by lower cost and reusable rockets, which are launching more and cheaper spacecraft than ever before. Indeed, nano‑satellite platforms, with volumes of only a few litres, increasingly exploit advances in miniaturised electronics to deliver capabilities that were once exclusive to large spacecraft.

Consequently, space is becoming more democratic, accessible to many academic actors, and open for start-ups to develop innovative commercial opportunities. Moreover, these technological advances are extending to interplanetary robotic exploration missions and, in turn, support the growing prospects for crewed missions to the Moon and Mars in the coming decades.

Motivation

The amount and features of “New Space” orbital assets would simply fail to scale up without the proper support of automated, optimal, efficient, scalable, usable, and robust computer science models and techniques, combining both on-board and on-ground components.

Informatics also plays a decisive role in facilitating a more sustainable space with accurate battery models, delay-tolerant data handling, trajectory optimization, debris collision avoidance, system verification and validation, and online telemetry learning, among many other application opportunities.

Space is within reach, and future space professionals with expertise in space informatic will become a valuable resource in the immediate future of the space industry.

Space Informatics

The Space Informatics course is framed in the New Space context and motivated by the hypothesis that computer science will play a central role in future near-Earth and interplanetary missions. To this end, we present a curriculum layout organized in three thematic dimensions:

1. the fundamentals of the space environment, ranging from orbital dynamics to maneuvers and interplanetary trajectory design;
2. the specifics of space technology, comprising energy handling, computers, communications, and networking;
3. the applications of informatics to 1. and 2., including linear and dynamic programming, model checking, and scheduling techniques.

These axes are accompanied by practical exercises and hands-on projects involving state-of-the-art software toolchains such as Systems Toolkit (STK). We will exploit scriptable interfaces (Python) to control STK and evaluate and optimize distributed space missions using informatics modelling tools such as Gurobi and Uppaal.

Contents

1. Fundamentals
   1. Space Applications
   2. New Space
   3. Physics and Orbits
   4. Propagation and Perturbation
   5. Launch and Maneuvers
   6. Trajectories Design
2. Technology
   1. Satellite Technologies
   2. Basic Communications
   3. Link Budget and Multiplexing
   4. Space Networks
   5. Transport Layer
   6. Simulation and Analysis Tools
3. Informatics
   1. Linear and Dynamic Programming Optimization
   2. Battery-Aware Scheduling
   3. Contact Plan Design
   4. Routing in LEO
   5. Machine Learning in Space