GMV and Alén discuss the future of orbital operations at the 4S Symposium

From 4 to 8 May, the 4S Symposium (Small Satellites Systems and Services) was held in Sardinia, Italy. Thirty years after its first edition, which explored the emerging potential of small satellites, this event has become one of the leading international gatherings in the space sector.

The theme of this latest edition was “Swarming the Skies, Soaring Beyond: from VLEO to Deep Space,” and brought together experts from industry, space agencies, and academia with the goal of sharing breakthroughs, presenting innovations, and fostering collaboration among players in the space sector. Five days of presentations, technical sessions, and exhibitions explored how the future of orbital operations and space security is shaping up.

GMV participated in several of the event’s sessions. Rafael Contreras, a space systems engineer and project manager at GMV, presented the paper “Celeste First In-Orbit-Demonstration Satellite and Positioning, Navigation and Timing Payload Design, Development, Manufacturing and Ground Validation.” Meanwhile, Mariella Graziano, GMV’s director of Strategy and Business Development for Space Systems Science, Exploration and Transportation (EST),presented the paper “Architecting Resilient and Sustainable Orbital Ecosystems through Industrial Small Satellite’s In-Orbit Demonstrators” and moderated the “New Technologies 1” session.

Alén Space, a GMV company, was also present at the 4S Symposium with two presentations: “Celeste IOD: Adapting COTS CubeSat Platforms for High-Performance LEO-PNT Missions,” presented by Alberto Mañero, head of the Space Missions Area at Alén Space, and “The Spanish Component of the Atlantic Constellation (ESCA): Small Satellites for Rapid Earth Observation Multi-Domain Applications,” a paper presented by the European Space Agency (ESA) and co-authored by Iván Rodríguez, Alén project leader.

GMV also sponsored the event as a Silver Sponsor, together with other companies in the international small-satellite ecosystem, reflecting its commitment to the development of groundbreaking solutions in the space sector.