At this year’s SpaceOps conference in Montreal, SSC colleagues Marcus Birch, Optical Communications Engineer, together with Nico Trebbin, Head of Engineering and Software Solutions, Engineering Services division, were awarded “best papers” for their respective presentations on optical communications as well as future lunar missions.

Marcus Birch was awarded “best paper” for his presentation Network and operational analysis of an optical ground station service for low Earth orbit and lunar communications. The paper highlights SSC’s endeavor to revolutionize the space market by investing in optical ground technology.

By bringing a stable optical ground network service to the market, the project aims to explore the emerging market for optical space-to-ground connectivity. Still in a demonstration phase, this optical service is currently test-linking with laser terminals on satellites already in orbit, via its two optical ground stations in Chile and Australia.

Supported by ESA as an important initiative in optical communication developments, this new technology enables spectrum-free communication at significantly higher data rates as well as increased security. Meanwhile, the ground stations and spacecraft terminals are both smaller and more power efficient.

Constellations such as Starlink already rely on intersatellite laser links, and the Artemis-2 mission to return astronauts to the Moon in 2026 will feature a laser terminal to facilitate 4k livestream. Longer term, SSC will explore the expansion of our optical capabilities for lunar communications and other deep-space missions.

Nico Trebbin was awarded “best paper” for his presentation Transitioning from LEO to lunar missions applying human spaceflight innovations. The paper highlights how new technologies can help develop future lunar space fairing.

This research details significant advances in enhancing Europe’s laboratory capabilities aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and preparing for lunar missions through the Columbus Monitoring and Control System (MCS) modernization and the innovative LUNA Analogue Facility in Cologne.

The work demonstrates how technologies like EGS-CC framework, Delay-tolerant networking (DTN), and Zigbee are being integrated to support both ISS operations and lunar mission preparedness, with automated testing protocols and CI/CD pipelines ensuring reliable deployment. The study shows how these combined efforts create synergies between ISS experience and lunar exploration capabilities, evolving the Columbus Control Centre into a Human Exploration Control Centre for future European space missions.

A big congratulation to both Marcus and Nico from all of SSC!

SSC and other awardees at: https://2025.spaceops.org/bestpapers.php

Read the full papers at:
https://star.spaceops.org/2025/user_manudownload.php?doc=174__eakz01qd.pdf
https://star.spaceops.org/2025/user_manudownload.php?doc=110__g08igp3v.pdf