From the Classroom to the Space Industry: A Look at GMV’s “TalentPRO Challenge”

The space of the future is sustainable. That was the premise behind GMV’s “TalentPRO Challenge,” an initiative developed in collaboration with Vocento and U4IMPACT with the goal of connecting the talent of college students in STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) with the professional environment they will soon be joining.

Following a selection process that evaluated both the candidates’ technical excellence and personal skills, the finalist students participated on June 25 in an in-person event during which they put their abilities to the test by tackling some of the space industry’s major challenges. Organized into teams of five, the participants investigated issues related to space surveillance and monitoring, the generation of space debris, and the resulting risk of collisions, among other challenges.

Once their proposals had been designed and prototyped, the teams presented them to a panel consisting of Alberto Águeda, director of Space Traffic Monitoring and Management at GMV; María José Germán, head of the People department at GMV; Mariana Ramonell, director of Sustainability at Vocento; and José Oriuela, COO and head of Quality at U4IMPACT.

The winning proposal was “GMV Butterfly,” an artificial intelligence-based tool designed to detect collision risks in space and answer the question: “How can we prevent satellites from colliding with each other and with space debris?” In recognition of their work, in addition to the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in a professional setting, each of the five members of the winning team received a prize of 500 euros.