“A new Space ERA… full of new Space Robotics Challenges”.

We are witnessing the beginning of a new Space ERA. While Space was a matter of governmental institutions and a few big companies in the past, the recent advancements in technologies and new insightful discoveries about space resources have awakened the appetite for Space entrepreneurship and innovative people in industry and academia. The number of start-ups initiating business and consolidating activities, focusing on a variety of potential businesses on orbital and planetary scenarios. In orbital scenarios, the increasing amount of debris is making companies and agencies aware that there is a need to reduce it, increase the lifespan of current satellites, and develop new satellites with more capabilities to be serviced. In planetary scenarios, the concept of using planetary resources for specific purposes generates a game-changing concept that is bringing the Moon back to be targeted by Space agencies and new space companies.

In this presentation, I will discuss the new challenges in the new Space ERA and the important role that robotics will play in solving them. I will also explain how the SpaceR research group is working on some of these topics using AI and cutting-edge facilities, as well as the new Master in Space Technologies and Business at the University of Luxembourg. In addition, I will provide more information about iSpaRo’24, the new International Conference on Space Robotics.

Bio:

Prof. Dr. Miguel Olivares-Mendez is a Professor on Space Robotics at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust of the University of Luxembourg. He leads the Space Robotics Research Group (SpaceR), the LunaLab and the Zero-gravity Lab. In addition, he is the program director of the Master in Space Technologies and Business (MSTB) at the University of Luxembourg and the founder and General Chair of the International Conference on Space Robotics (iSpaRo).He received his Eng. Degree in Computer Science from the University of Malaga in 2006, and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Robotics and Automation from the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) in 2009 and 2013 respectively. During his Ph.D, he was a visitor researcher on EPFL (Switzerland) and ARCAA-QUT (Australia). He was awarded with the 2013 Best Ph.D. Thesis award by the European Society for Fuzzy Logic and Technology (EUSFLAT). In May 2013 he joined the Interdisciplinary Center for Security Reliability and Trust (SnT) at the University of Luxembourg (Uni.Lu), as Associate Researcher in the Automation & Robotics Research Group. In November 2019, he became an Assistant Professor on Space Robotics and, in January 2020 the founder and head of the SpaceR research group.

He is currently the main supervisor of 12 PhD students and 7 PostDocs. He has published over 120 peer-reviewed publications. His main research interests are extreme environment, planetary and orbital robotics for Autonomous Navigation, Situational Awareness, Perception, Machine Learning, and multi-robot interaction in autonomous exploration, inspection, and operations.