2026 Glue Technologies for Space Systems Technical Panel Ph.D. Summer School

The AESS Glue Technologies for Space Systems Technical Panel is proud to announce the organization of the sixth edition of the Summer School: “Frontier Technologies for Space 2.0 Communications” from 14-16 September 2026, both in person at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” and online.

This event has been successfully attended online by students worldwide during the first three editions (2021-2024). This year the Summer School will host it's second in-person version of the program. The Summer School will offer cutting-edge lectures held by leading experts recognized at the international level concerning the most advanced topics about “New Space” communication technologies.

We wish to thank you in advance for your participation in the Summer School. For questions, please send an email to Prof. Claudio Sacchi ((Click to show email)).

Register

Details

When: 14-18 September 2026
Where: University of Rome “Tor Vergata” and Virtually on Zoom (The link will be sent out to registered participants one week before the event.) To find information on accommodation and hotels, please visit the documents tab above.
Registration: Free, but registration is required. Register by 30 August 2026. 
Credits: Please indicate on the registration form if you intend to take the exam following the course. If you wish to receive credit for this course, you will need to take the exam. Otherwise, a certificate of attendance (with no credit) will be delivered upon request.

Who Should Attend?

The Summer School is open to Master's and Ph.D. students and academic and industrial research fellows who want to increase their knowledge about new trends in space communication and networking research.

Schedule

(Times listed in CEST)

Day 1: Monday, September 14, 2026

• 8.45-9.00 AM - WELCOME TO THE PARTICIPANTS Claudio Sacchi, University of Trento, Italy, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (NM)
• 9.00-10.15 AM - “SPACE 2.0”: THE NEW SPACE REVOLUTION EIGHT DECADES AFTER A.C. CLARKE (1st part) (in presence) Claudio Sacchi, University of Trento, Italy, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (NM)
• 10.15-10.45 AM - WELCOME COFFEE BREAK 
• 10.50 AM - 12.05 PM - “SPACE 2.0”: THE NEW SPACE REVOLUTION EIGHT DECADES AFTER A.C. CLARKE (2nd part) (in presence) Claudio Sacchi, University of Trento, Italy, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (NM)
• 12.10 – 2.00 PM - LUNCH BREAK
• 4.00 – 6.30 PM - END-TO-END ENGINEERING APPROACH FOR SPACE SYSTEMS (online), Kar-Ming Cheung, Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) of NASA, Pasadena (CA)

Day 2: Tuesday, September 15, 2026

• 9.00 – 11.00 AM - SPACE SOFTWARIZATION: FROM PHYSICAL LAYER TO SERVICES (1st part) (mixed) Fabrizio Granelli, Claudio Sacchi, University of Trento, Italy, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, Alessandro Guidotti, University of Bologna, Italy.
• 11.00 – 11.30 AM - COFFEE BREAK
• 11.30 AM – 12.30 PM - SPACE SOFTWARIZATION: FROM PHYSICAL LAYER TO SERVICES (2nd part) (mixed) Fabrizio Granelli, Claudio Sacchi, University of Trento, Italy, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, Alessandro Guidotti, University of Bologna, Italy.
• 12.35 – 2.00 PM - LUNCH BREAK
• 2.15 – 4.00 PM - EXTRATERRESTRIAL AND INTERPLANETARY COMMUNICATIONS: WILL BE “FIELD” ON MARS? Claudio Sacchi, University of Trento, Italy, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM.

Day 3: Wednesday, September 16, 2026

• 9.00 – 11.00 AM - INVITED LECTURE #1 – SECURING SPACE 2.0: BUILDING CYBER RESILIENCE FOR CONNECTED AND INTELLIGENT SPACE SYSTEMS (in person) Kendra Cook, SAIC, Reston, VA.
• 11.00 – 11.30 AM - COFFEE BREAK
• 11.30 AM – 12.30 PM - GUIDED VISIT TO THE ITALIAN SPACE AGENCY (ASI)
• 12.35 – 2.00 PM - LUNCH BREAK (in ASI premises)
• 2.30-5.30 PM - SATELLITE NETWORKING IN “5G AND BEYOND” SCENARIOS, (mixed) Mario Marchese, Fabio Patrone, University of Genoa (Italy), Mohamed Slim Alouini, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology – KAUST, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Day 4: Thursday, September 17, 2026

• 9.00 – 10.30 AM - EHF FOR SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS: THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS (1st part) (in presence), Giuseppe Codispoti (ASI), Giorgia Parca, ASI, Italy, Tommaso Rossi, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Italy.
• 10.30 – 11.00 AM - COFFEE BREAK
• 11.00 AM – 1.00 PM - EHF FOR SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS: THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS (2nd part) (in presence), Giuseppe Codispoti (ASI), Giorgia Parca, ASI, Italy, Tommaso Rossi, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Italy.
• 1.00 – 2.30 PM - LUNCH BREAK
• 3.00 – 5.00 PM - INVITED LECTURE #2 – EXTRA TERRESTRIAL NAVIGATION AND COMMUNICATION (in presence) Cosimo Stallo, ESA, UK.

Day 5: Friday, September 18, 2026

• 10.00 – 11.15 AM - RECONFIGURABLE INTELLIGENT SURFACE (RIS) AND SOFTWARE-DEFINED RADIO (SDR) TECHNOLOGIES AS KEY ENABLERS OF SECURE AND EFFICIENT NTN TRANSMISSION, (1st part) (in presence) Ivan Iudice, Italian Center of Aerospace Research (CIRA), Capua, Italy.
• 11.15 – 11.35 AM - COFFEE BREAK
• 11.35 AM – 1.00 PM - RECONFIGURABLE INTELLIGENT SURFACE (RIS) AND SOFTWARE-DEFINED RADIO (SDR) TECHNOLOGIES AS KEY ENABLERS OF SECURE AND EFFICIENT NTN TRANSMISSION, (2nd part) (in presence) Ivan Iudice, Italian Center of Aerospace Research (CIRA), Capua, Italy.
• 1.00 – 2.30 PM - LUNCH BREAK
• 2.30 – 4.30 PM - INVITED LECTURE #3 – TOWARD SECURE AND SUSTAINABLE NON-TERRESTRIAL NETWORKS (in presence) Gunes Karabulut Kurt, Polytechnique Montreal, Montreal (CAN)
• 4.30 – 4.45 PM - SCHOOL CONCLUSION, Claudio Sacchi, University of Trento, Italy, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (NM)\\

Final Online Test (for credits)

The date for the Final Test will be communication during the first day of the school in agreement with all students.

Organizing Committee

This Summer School is organized by the University of Trento, University of Genoa, and the University of Roma "Tor Vergata".  If you have any questions, please contact Professor Claudio Sacchi.

Support

The event is organized by the AESS Glue Technologies for Space Systems Technical Panel and is co-sponsored by IEEE AESS. Special thank you to the Italian Space Agency for hosting the event and to the European Union under the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) of NextGenerationEU partnership on "Telecommunications of the Future" (PE00000001 - program "RESTART") for your support.