PROGRAMME
Munich Space Summit 2026
New Space – Europe’s Gateway to Secure, Scalable Access
Global New Space Perspectives
| Mistress of Ceremony: Agnieszka Łukaszczyk, Founder & CEO, hiALtitude Consulting | |
| 11:00 hrs | Registration |
| 13:00 hrs | Opening Remarks & Welcome (Munich Aerospace, UniBw, DLR, European Commission) |
| 13:45 hrs | Keynote: New Space at the Crossroads – Global Trends, Challenges & Opportunities |
| 14:30 hrs | NewSpace_Session 1: Mega Constellations – Scaling Satellites with Quality & Affordability Moderator: Carla Filotico, Partner & Managing Director, Novaspace – Livio Tucci, Director Consulting Expert Space, CGI – Thomas Sinn, Founder and CEO, Dcubed – tba Mega constellations shift the challenge from building satellites to producing and operating them at industrial scale. This panel looks at how to scale to hundreds or thousands of units without losing reliability, while keeping costs under control. It explores the role of standardisation, modular design, digital engineering and automation, and considers how regulation, sustainability requirements and congestion concerns influence design and deployment choices. |
| 15:30 hrs | Coffee Break & Networking |
| 16:15 hrs | NewSpace_Session 2: Financing the Future – VCs, Investors & New Business Models Moderator: Quentin Robert, CEO, Spacefounders France – Koen Geurts, Senior Investment Manager, HTGF – Rob Desborough, General Partner and Accelerator Chair, Seraphim Space – Joram Voelklein, Founding Partner, Alpine Space Ventures – Charles Beigbeder, Founding Partner, Expansion – Christina Vogt-Sasse, Deeptech VC Investor, MIG Capital As space becomes more market-driven, access to capital and robust business models are as important as technology. This panel examines how VCs, institutional investors and corporate funds shape the next generation of space companies and what makes a venture attractive for investment. It looks at current trends, dual-use and downstream cases, long development cycles and high capex, and at how innovative financing and partnerships can help bridge these gaps. |
| 17:15 hrs | Keynote Impulse: The Geopolitics of Space Constellations |
| 18:00 hrs | NewSpace_Session 3: Industrialising Space – 3D Printing, Advanced Materials & Mass Production Moderator: Jacob Rindler, Additive Manufacturing Lead, The Exploration Company As space hardware moves from one-off designs to serial production, industrial methods become crucial. This panel examines how 3D printing, advanced materials and new manufacturing techniques change the way spacecraft, launchers and subsystems are designed, built and qualified. It highlights potential gains in cost, lead time and design freedom, as well as challenges around certification, supply chains and long-term sustainability. |
| 18:45 hrs | Impulse Talk: Tibor Kapu, Astronaut, HUNOR (Hungarian to Orbit) |
| 19:15 – 21:30 hrs | Galaxy Night – Networking, Drinks & Food |
New Space – Europe’s Gateway to Secure, Scalable Access
Innovation, Launchers & Business
| Mistress of Ceremony: Agnieszka Łukaszczyk, Founder & CEO, hiALtitude Consulting | |
| 09:00 hrs | Welcome Back & Highlights |
| 09:15 hrs | NewSpace_Session 4: Launchers – Europe’s Access to Space Moderator: Chiara Manfletti, Chair of Space Propulsion and Mobility at the Technical University of Munich – Indulis Kalnins, CEO, Rocket Factory Augsburg – Gerald Hagemann, Head of Liquid Propulsion Center; Head of Site Ottobrunn / Taufkirchen, ArianeGroup – tba With demand for launches growing and global competition intensifying, Europe’s access to space is under pressure. This panel discusses how European launch capabilities can evolve in a market shaped by new commercial players, reusability and small launchers. It looks at technological options, industrial models, regulatory and environmental constraints and asks how Europe can remain both competitive and strategically autonomous in the launcher domain. |
| 10:15 hrs | Coffee Break & Networking |
| 11:00 hrs | NewSpace_Session 5: Collaboration not Competition – Startups & Industry Shaping the New Space Economy Together Moderator: Justyna Redelkiewicz, CEO, GoCosmic – Eva Haas, Head of Strategic Accounts, EOMAP – Reinhard Blasi, Market Downstream & Innovation Manager, EUSPA – Jacek Strzelczyk, CEO, Satim – Guilhem Garrel, Space Business Catalyst Partner France, Thales Alenia Space – Andreas Heitmann, Managing Director Germany, Space Founders – up42, tba Many successful New Space projects emerge where startups and established industry work together rather than compete. This panel explores how collaborations between young companies, primes, mid-caps and institutions can accelerate innovation, reduce risk and open new markets. It also addresses cultural differences, speed, risk appetite and IP expectations, and discusses how to build trust-based, long-term partnership models that benefit all sides. |
| 12:00 hrs | Lunch Break & Networking |
| 13:30 hrs | NewSpace_Session 6: Defence & Secure Communications – Europe’s Sovereignty in Space Moderator: Andreas Knopp, Chair of Signal Processing, University of the Bundeswehr Munich – General Armin Fleischmann, Head of Division, Planning (CIR) and Digitalization, Cyber and Information Domain Service Headquarters, Bundeswehr – Rohde & Schwarz, tba – Kai-Uwe Storek, CEO, Neosat GmbH – Helmut Spitzl, Project Control and Quality Manager, European Commission As space becomes a strategic and contested domain, secure communications are vital to Europe’s autonomy and resilience. This panel examines how Europe can protect its space-based infrastructure from cyber threats, jamming, spoofing and geopolitical pressure while reducing external dependencies. It explores how strong national initiatives can be aligned with a coherent European approach, and how resilient networks, quantum-safe encryption, hybrid space–ground architectures and better coordinated policies can support a secure, sovereign European communications architecture. |
| 14:30 hrs | NewSpace_Session 7: Applications & Services Enabled by Mega Constellations Moderator: Daniela Dobreva-Nielsen, Director Space Applications bavAIRia e.V. With mega constellations entering service, attention turns to the applications they unlock. This panel shows how large satellite networks support connectivity, Earth observation, navigation and security, and how they begin to transform sectors such as mobility, logistics, energy and agriculture. It discusses evolving data- and platform-driven business models, as well as challenges around interoperability, reliability, regulation and affordability for end-users. |
| 15:30 hrs | Coffee Break & Networking |
| 16:15 hrs | NewSpace_Session 8: Operations & Maintenance – Building Sustainable Constellations Moderator: Samuel Mamou, Director, Alliance NewSpace France As constellations grow, long-term operations and maintenance become central to success. This panel discusses how to manage large satellite fleets efficiently over their life cycle – from early operations and anomaly handling to upgrades and deorbiting. It looks at automation and AI-assisted control, in-orbit servicing concepts, end-of-life strategies and debris mitigation, and how regulation and space-traffic management can support robust and sustainable operations. |
| 17:15 hrs | NewSpace_Session 9: Legal Horizons in New Space Moderator: Ingo Baumann, Founding Partner and Lawyer, BHO Legal – Nicolas Moraitis, Lead Legal Counsel, Infinite Orbits – Brad Powell, Deputy General Counsel, Vast Space – Cécile Gaubert, General Counsel, Exotrail – Catherine Doldirina, General Counsel, D-Orbit – tba As New Space activities expand in scale, speed and diversity, the legal framework is struggling to keep pace. This panel explores how international space law and national regulations are being tested by new actors, business models and technologies and which challenges exist for industry in managing the complex and diverse legal issues surrounding the space industry. The discussion will bring together in-house lawyers from NewSpace companies across Europe, representing diverse business sectors. The panel aims to identify the key legal challenges for NewSpace companies, different approaches how to tackle them and a joint look on the horizon. |
| 18:30 – 21:30 hrs | Railway to Space – Event tram ride through Munich´s city lights |
Time, Location, Possibility
Unlocking Markets at the Nexus of New Space and PNT
| Mistress of Ceremony: Agnieszka Łukaszczyk, Founder & CEO, hiALtitude Consulting | |
| 09:00 hrs | NewSpace_Session 10: Orbit to Ground: New Space Pitches Moderator: Florian Dötzer, Managing Director, TUM Venture Labs This session gives emerging New Space companies and project teams the stage to present their ideas, business models and technical approaches in short pitches. It offers a compact overview of current technologies, services and applications, from upstream hardware to downstream data solutions. Participants gain insight into trends and use cases, while pitchers benefit from visibility and direct contact with potential partners, customers and supporters. |
| 09:45 hrs | NewSpace_Session 11: CubeSat Platforms Moderator: Valentina Luchetti, Senior Sales and Business Development Manager, Dcubed CubeSats have evolved from student projects into versatile platforms for science, technology demonstration and commercial services. This session shows how standardised small-satellite architectures can cut development time and cost while still delivering meaningful performance. It highlights current platform capabilities, typical design trade-offs and lessons learned, and looks at trends such as greater autonomy, propulsion, inter-satellite links and modular payload integration. |
| 10:30 hrs | Coffee Break & Networking |
| 11:00 hrs | DeepDive 1 – Dual-Use GNSS and PRS Moderator: Hendrik Osenberg, Deputy Head of Navigation Department, German Space Agency at DLR, Bonn, Germany Satellite navigation is a key technology for civil applications and critical infrastructures, as well as for sovereign security and defence tasks. The Galileo Public Regulated Service is an example of the dual-use character of satellite navigation. Therefore, the demarcation and interaction between open GNSS services and protected services will be discussed. This session will highlight current developments, prospects for future use and application perspectives.DeepDive 2 – Edge AI in Orbit: Autonomy, Compression & Real-Time Decisions Moderator: Julia Brase, Associate Programme Manager, Helsing Germany GmbH Rising data volumes make on-board intelligence increasingly important. This deep dive explores how AI and machine learning are moving onto spacecraft to enable autonomy, smarter tasking and near real-time decisions. It looks at on-board data reduction, model deployment under tight resource constraints and the balance between autonomy and operator control, as well as verification, trust and key use cases in Earth observation, telecoms, navigation and security. |
| 11:45 hrs | DeepDive 3 – From Space to Ground: GNSS for Non-Space UsersThe session addresses the downstream perspective of GNSS by exploring how innovative, application-driven solutions emerge beyond the space sector.DeepDive 4 – Ground Segment 2.0: Cloud-Native Ops & “Ground-as-a-Service” Moderator: Stewart Hall, Sales Director, Telespazio Germany & Lucie Liversain, Chief of Staff, Skynopy As constellations grow, the ground segment is turning into a flexible, software-driven service layer. This deep dive explores how cloud-native architectures, virtualised infrastructure and “Ground-as-a-Service” models are reshaping mission operations from planning to data delivery. It looks at how operators can scale capacity on demand and reduce capex, while managing interoperability, legacy integration, security requirements and regulatory constraints. |
| 12:30 hrs | Lunch Break & Networking |
| Master of Ceremony: Claus Kruesken, Journalist, Bayerischer Rundfunk | |
| 13:30 hrs | Official Opening by Munich Aerospace, UniBw M, DLR, Political Representatives |
| 14:00 hrs | KeyPanel 1: From a Space Policy Strategy to New Space – Answers to Global Challenges – Josef Aschbacher, Director General, European Space Agency (ESA) – Rodrigo da Costa, Executive Director, European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), formerly the European GNSS Agency (GSA) – Michael Schöllhorn, President, German Aerospace Industries Association (BDLI) – Thomas Reiter, Head of Space and Security, German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space – Walther Pelzer, Director General, German Space Agency at DLR, and Member of the DLR Executive Board – tba This key panel brings together Europe’s top space leaders to discuss how policy, programmes and New Space can jointly answer global challenges. It examines strategic autonomy, security and resilience, competitiveness and industrial capacity, and the role of flagship infrastructures in a shifting geopolitical environment. The panel also asks how Europe moves from strategy to delivery - aligning agencies, funding and industry to turn priorities into deployable capabilities and measurable impact. |
| 15:00 hrs | Coffee Break & Networking |
| 15:45 hrs | KeyPanel 2: Satellite Navigation – Maintaining Precision in Difficult Times – Francisco-Javier Benedicto Ruiz, Director of Navigation, ESA – tba |
| 16:45 hrs | KeyPanel 3: Innovation Spotlights – Industry Perspectives – Hélène Huby, Founder & CEO, The Exploration Company – Mattia Moscardino, CEO Germany, GMV – Ernst K. Pfeiffer, CEO, HPS GmbH – Brian Manning, CEO, Xona Space Systems – Philip Thomas, Head of ScaleUp Division, European Space Agency (ESA) Following the strategic and geopolitical debate of the afternoon, this panel brings the industry response into focus. Start-ups, SMEs, established companies and satellite navigation players share how they are positioning themselves in a rapidly changing environment. The discussion highlights concrete approaches, collaboration models and innovation pathways, showing how industry translates strategy into action—beyond individual company pitches and toward shared solutions. |
| 17:45 hrs | Closing Remarks |
| 18:15 hrs | Shuttle Transfer to Evening Reception |
| 19:30 – 22:00 hrs | State Reception with political representatives – Informal get-together with buffet & drinks |
SatNav: Multi-faceted PNT – Maintaining Trust and Accuracy in Difficult Times
Updates on Services, Threats and Applications
| 09:00 hrs | SatNav_Session 1: GNSS Programme Updates – Global, Regional and Augmentation Systems Chair: Richard Fischer, Publisher, Autonomous Media (Inside GNSS, Inside Unmanned Systems, Inside Autonomous Vehicles), Red Bank NJ, USA – Xavier Maufroid, Head of Sector Galileo Implementation; Head of GNSS Joint Office, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium – Jean-Marc Piéplu, Head of EGNOS Exploitation Department, EUSPA, Toulouse, France – Sharafat Gadimova, Executive Secretariat of the International Committee on Global Satellite Navigation Systems (ICG), UNOOSA, Vienna, Austria – Sung-Woo Kim, Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA), Sacheon, Republic of Korea – tba Speakers from the respective organizations and countries will present updates on established and emerging global, regional, and augmentation satellite navigation systems. A special focus will be how established governmental GNSS and RNSS systems can embrace and are embracing emerging new systems such as commercial LEO-based services along with the new markets and applications that may develop.. |
| 10:30 hrs | Coffee Break |
| 11:00 hrs | SatNav_Session 2: Accuracy as Key to Modern Navigation Chairs: Charles Ben, Evolution and Engineering Manager, spaceopal, Munich, Germany & Ilaria Martini, Head of Navigation and Cyberresilience, Leonardo Space Division, Rome, Italy Precise point positioning (PPP) is considered a very advanced and demanding technique within satellite navigation to ensure high precision and global coverage. Commercial service providers offer proven PPP solutions to support autonomous systems and are challenged by public services. Advantages and added values of private services with respect to public ones are interesting topics. Most applications have increasing demand for safety, security, and reliability performance, which leads to the need to include authentication and integrity information, robustness to threats, and a precise terrestrial reference frame. Especially the quickly rising demand for security-driven applications will challenge current product solutions in the market. Supporting satellites in low Earth orbit as well as lower medium Earth orbit and exploiting innovative technologies such as optical links open new challenges and opportunities. The discussion of ongoing technological developments for PPP and a glimpse into what can be expected from PPP will help to understand the market in a better way and attract new user groups – and thus the PPP applications to come. |
| 12:30 hrs | Lunch Break |
| 14:00 hrs | SatNav_Session 3: Resilient Navigation – Challenges and Solutions Chair: Michael Meurer, Professor & Head of Navigation Department, German Aerospace Center (DLR) and RWTH Aachen University Reliable Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) systems are vital for the smooth operation of modern economies, supporting a wide range of applications from autonomous transportation to energy distribution and telecommunication networks. As these systems are increasingly integrated into critical infrastructure, their resilience becomes a key concern, particularly in environments prone to disruptions like jamming or spoofing. Such vulnerabilities could have devastating impacts on both operational safety and security. This session will address the existing threat, its impact on applications as well as the importance of robust PNT solutions, focusing on how reliable positioning and timing are essential for the stability of critical systems. We will explore approaches and technologies that offer potential as countermeasures against these threats in order to safeguard PNT systems, ensuring their reliability and resilience for critical applications in an increasingly complex and interconnected world. |
| 15:00 hrs | SatNav_Session 4: Optical, Quantum and AI Technologies as Game Changers? Chairs: Allison Kealy, Professor, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia & José Angel Ávila Rodríguez, Head of the Future Programmes Office, ESA, Noordwijk, The Netherlands As global navigation evolve, the demand for higher performance and resilience becomes more critical. This session will highlight emerging technologies with the potential to revolutionize GNSS systems and PNT, including optical inter-satellite links for time transfer and ranging, as well as advancements in artificial intelligence and quantum technologies. We will explore the role of optical solutions in addressing synchronization and further challenges in GNSS and discuss the ongoing validation and demonstration missions, such as ESA's OpSTAR initiative. The potential of quantum technologies, particularly for enhancing sensor capabilities and robust timing, will also be examined, alongside the evolving role of AI to improve real-time decision-making and system resilience. However, we will also consider the challenges and limitations these technologies face. Join us to assess the future of GNSS systems and how these technologies could contribute to greater resilience, accuracy, and interoperability in an increasingly complex global environment. |
| 16:00 hrs | Coffee Break |
| 16:30 hrs | SatNav_Session 5: Multi-Faceted PNT for Earth and Space Chairs: Jade Morton, Distinguished Professor, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA & Masaya Murata, Lunar PNT Lead, Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency (JAXA), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan – Cosimo Stallo, Moonlight Navigation Principal System Engineer, ESA, Harwell, UK – Zak M. Kassas, Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus OH, USA – Fabio Dovis, Professor, Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy – Patrick Shannon, Founder, CEO, TrustPoint, Inc., Mountain View CA, USA Reliable Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) systems are critical for the functioning of diverse applications, ranging from aviation and maritime navigation to space exploration. The integration of MEO-based GNSS, emerging LEO-based GNSS, terrestrial APNT, multisensor fusion, and even future extraterrestrial PNT infrastructure offers the potential for highly accurate, reliable, and resilient positioning solutions. However, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Each application domain—such as air traffic, maritime navigation, or lunar missions—presents unique challenges that require customized solutions. This session will explore the complementary potential of these different technologies and systems, emphasizing the need for multisensor and multilayer approaches. We will examine how these diverse PNT solutions can be combined to address the specific requirements of various domains, ensuring robustness and precision in dynamic environments on Earth and in space. Join us to explore how innovative strategies can optimize positioning capabilities for both terrestrial and extraterrestrial applications, providing reliable, adaptable, and secure navigation in an increasingly complex world. |
| 18:00 hrs | SatNav_Session 6: Services Enabling Secure and Trusted Navigation Chairs: Stefan Baumann, Programme Manager for Satellite Navigation, IABG, Ottobrunn, Germany & Pierre Roussel, Head of the Space Affairs Office, General Secretariat for Defence and National Security, Paris, France – Stephan Roemer, BD Manager Navigation & Satcom, OHB SE, Bremen, Germany – tba |
| 19:30 hrs | Space Night sponsored by Airbus |
SatNav: Multi-faceted PNT – Maintaining Trust and Accuracy in Difficult Times
Technologies for the Navigator
| 09:00 hrs | SatNav_Session 7: Munich Flashlights Chair: Bärbel Deisting, Senior Manager, EurA AG, Ottobrunn, Germany This year’s Munich Navigation Flashlights focus on the robustness and accuracy currently being advanced by Bavarian navigation experts. Accuracy and robustness are key for application domains as they are ensuring that the position, navigation and timing performance meets the operational demands of applications. Moreover, they are essential for safety- and mission-critical domains, where reliable service, integrity, and continuity must be maintained even under hampered environmental conditions. The invited experts will present their solutions and how improvements can be achieved. In addition, they will discuss what is still missing with respect to applications areas. |
| 09:45 hrs | SatNav_Session 8: LEO PNT – Constellations and Use-Cases Chairs: Matteo Paonni, Deputy Head of the Space, Connectivity and Economic Security Unit at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission & Roberto Prieto-Cerdeira, Head of Celeste (LEO-PNT) Project at European Space Agency (ESA) LEO PNT aim to delivers services that complement widely used, free of charge GNSS offerings, and understanding the applications that motivate this relatively new approach to providing PNT is therefore essential. This session will concentrate on those applications and how to shape the service concept, the constellation, or signals, with particular emphasis on enhanced resilience needs across critical infrastructures. Examples from further assurance on automotive and broader transportation sectors, critical infrastructure, security and governmental applications, public safety and emergency services, among others, clearly illustrate how LEO PNT offers added value that justifies both public and private investment. |
| 10:45 hrs | SatNav_Session 9: Technologies for Multi-Layer PNT Chair: Todd Humphreys, Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, The University of Texas at Austin, USA Three primary technology families have been identified for delivering navigation services from low Earth orbit: dedicated GNSS-like systems, the modification of commercial or open communication standards, and the opportunistic exploitation of SatCom signals. This session will compare and contrast these approaches to clarify which technologies are best suited to specific use cases. The integration with GNSS signals, terrestrial radionavigation signals and sensor data complements the discussion to understand the full scope of multi-layer PNT. |
| 11:45 hrs | Coffee Break |
| 12:25 hrs | SatNav_Session 10: European Navigation Eco-System Chair: Robert Greinacher, Head of the Project Management Office and Quality Department, EUSPA, Prague, Czech Republic Galileo’s portfolio of capabilities is continuously expanding with emerging services. Provided by the first and the second generation of Galileo, these services deliver highly accurate and resilient positioning and timing solutions tailored to domains ranging from transport operations to vital infrastructure. This session will provide up-to-date perspectives on the rapid evolution of these next-generation services. |
| 13:15 | SatNav_Session 11: Trust in Timing? Chairs: Pascale Defraigne, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium & Dana Goward , President, Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation, Alexandria, VA, USA Reliable time provision is a cornerstone of modern critical infrastructure, enabling seamless operations across a broad range of sectors, from power grids and financial networks to communication systems and transportation. Many of these systems rely heavily on GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) for accurate time synchronization, which is essential for ensuring safety, security, and efficiency. However, this dependence exposes society to significant risks, as disruptions such as jamming, spoofing, or solar activity can undermine the availability of reliable time information, leading to severe consequences for critical services. This session will delve into the importance of secure and robust time provision for Critical Infrastructure (KRITIS), highlighting the growing vulnerabilities of GNSS-based time synchronization. We will explore emerging technologies and innovative time distribution techniques, including new clock concepts and alternative secure time sources, to mitigate these threats. Join us to examine how these advancements can protect the reliability and resilience of time-dependent systems, ensuring continued operational stability in an increasingly interconnected and vulnerable world. |
| 14:15 hrs | Closing |
| 14:20 hrs | Bavarian Networking |