PROGRAM
Days: Tuesday, September 29th Wednesday, September 30th Thursday, October 1st
Tuesday, September 29th
View this program: with abstractssession overviewtalk overview
08:45-09:00 Session 2: Opening Address
Prof Anton Middelberg, Adelaide University Deputy Vice Chancellor - Research & Industry
Location: The Braggs Lecture Theatre
09:00-10:30 Session 3: Plenary Session: National Context
Chair:
Location: The Braggs Lecture Theatre
| 09:00 | Bringing the Benefits of Space Down to Earth: How Geoscience Australia Translates Research into National Capability (abstract) |
| 09:30 | Regional Ionospheric Modelling for Australia: Challenges, Opportunities and Pathways to Sovereign Capability (abstract) PRESENTER: Zahra Bouya |
| 10:00 | CSIRO’s space activities: recent highlights (abstract) |
10:30-11:00Coffee Break
11:00-12:30 Session 4: Plenary Session I
Chair:
Location: The Braggs Lecture Theatre
| 11:00 | Next generation exploration of the Moon with Artemis (abstract) |
| 11:30 | The Artemis reset: the need for new technologies to sustain humans remote from Earth, and what this means for us here on Earth. (abstract) |
| 12:00 | Research Without Borders: What Happens at the Intersections? (abstract) |
12:30-13:30Lunch Break
13:30-15:00 Session 5A: Technical Session: History, Education & Training
Location: The Braggs Lecture Theatre
| 13:30 | Australian-Owned Space Objects, 1967–2025: An Updated Database and Mission Analysis (abstract) PRESENTER: Gayle Leong |
| 13:45 | Astronomy and Space: Building Connections for Australia's Future (abstract) |
| 14:00 | Does Australia have the science capability it needs for 2035? Findings from Australian Science, Australia's Future (abstract) |
| 14:15 | Bridging the Gap: An AI-Integrated, Experiential Learning Framework for Strengthening Australia's Space Research Workforce Pipeline (abstract) PRESENTER: Sukruti Narayanan |
| 14:30 | MHAB: A Student-Led Platform for Transforming Science and Engineering Education (abstract) PRESENTER: Aayush Prashanth |
| 14:45 | Long Baseline Sky Darkness Measurements: A Statistical Approach (abstract) PRESENTER: Kenneth Grant |
13:30-15:00 Session 5B: Technical Session: Planets
Chair:
Location: Engineering South S111
| 13:30 | Which Worlds Are Worth Watching? Planetary Architecture as a Guide to Habitability (abstract) |
| 13:45 | Exploring the influence of exo-rings on planetary habitability (abstract) |
| 14:00 | The Dynamics of the Hilda Population (abstract) PRESENTER: Jonti Horner |
| 14:15 | High Precision K isotope measurements of Australasian Tektites: Insights into impact related Condensation and Evaporation (abstract) PRESENTER: Jayden Squire |
| 14:30 | Ground-Based Radar Scattering Properties of Near-Earth Asteroids: Insights from Australian Radio Telescope Observations (abstract) PRESENTER: Tomohiro Takemura |
| 14:45 | Tomato Cultivation, Phytonutrient Extraction, and Space Meal Design: from Pilot to Commercial Scale and Vision for Space Food Challenge (abstract) PRESENTER: Roberto Damico |
15:00-15:15Coffee Break
15:15-16:25 Session 6: Poster Session
Location: Union House, Function Room 1 (level 5)
TLE-Based Verification of On-Orbit EPS Telemetry: A Case Study of the TSURU CubeSat (abstract) PRESENTER: Dave Furtado |
Effect of Astronaut Body Size on the Mass and Payload of Spacecraft (abstract) PRESENTER: Garry O'Leary |
Cybersecurity of Software-Defined Networking in Space Systems: A Threat Mapping, Simulation, and Intelligent Intrusion Detection Approach (abstract) PRESENTER: Uakomba Uhongora |
Dynamical Analysis of the Neptunian Trojans (abstract) |
From Sounder to Radar: Claude Goutelard and the Fractal Origins of Nostradamus (abstract) PRESENTER: Stuart Anderson |
The UWA Space Surveillance Hub (abstract) |
Comparative Planetary Defence Modelling of Asteroid Entry and Impact Outcomes (abstract) |
Photometric Classification of Small NEAs Using the Zadko Telescope: 2026 JH2 (abstract) PRESENTER: Oscar Lin |
Photometric characterisation of three Near-Earth Asteroids: 2023 DZ2, 2018 UY, and 2024 ON (abstract) PRESENTER: Dorota Mieczkowska |
Upgrading the Zadko Telescope - From Opportunistic GRB to Dedicated NEO Observations (abstract) |
Electron-beam based lunar dust mitigation under moving beam conditions (abstract) PRESENTER: Ayush Adhikari |
Multistatic Radar Tracking of Near-Earth Asteroids from the Southern Hemisphere (abstract) PRESENTER: Guifre Molera Calves |
Estimation of orbit-localised thermosphere mass density and its uncertainty based on the SET HASDM Density Database (abstract) PRESENTER: George Bowden |
Identifying mycelium structural changes to fungi in microgravity. (abstract) PRESENTER: Michalina McDermott |
In-Space Manufacturing of Ultra-Low-Loss ZBLAN Optical Fibre: Results from a Miniaturised, Automated Drawing System on the ISS (abstract) PRESENTER: Ka Wu |
Real-Time Wideband FPGA Baseband Processing for High-Capacity, Low-Latency Space Communication Links (abstract) PRESENTER: Hao Zhang |
Reassessing Sovereign SAR Capability for Australia Beyond 2030: From Global Landscape to Candidate Mission Concepts (abstract) PRESENTER: Alexander Bradley |
A Student Perspective on Australian Metallurgical Supply Chains and Workforce Opportunities (abstract) |
18:30-20:30 Session 8: MARS SOCIETY PUBLIC LECTURE
Marking the 25th anniversary of both Mars Society Australia and the Australian Space Research Conference, the 2026 David Cooper Memorial Lecture will be presented by MSA president and director Earl White. It will explore why Australia is such an important destination for Mars analogue research, look back over MSA’s active history in Australia and and beyond, as well as touching on what the MSA's next chapter might reveal.
Location: The Braggs Lecture Theatre
| 18:30 | Red Planet: 25 Years of Practising for Mars in Australia and peering into what the next decade might uncover. (abstract) |
Wednesday, September 30th
View this program: with abstractssession overviewtalk overview
09:00-10:30 Session 9: Plenary Session II
Chair:
Location: The Braggs Lecture Theatre
| 09:00 | What are we talking about when we talk about sustainability in space? (abstract) |
| 09:30 | Shaping Australia’s Space Future: Connecting Research, Industry and Global Opportunity (abstract) |
| 10:00 | Advancing South Australia’s Space Ecosystem (abstract) PRESENTER: Chris Picton |
10:30-11:00Coffee Break
11:00-12:30 Session 10A: Securing the Space Domain: Challenges and Opportunities
Chair:
Location: The Braggs Lecture Theatre
11:00-12:30 Session 10B: Panel: Emerging Technologies, Interdisciplinary Innovation and New Frontiers
Chair:
Location: Engineering South S112
12:30-13:30Lunch Break
13:30-15:00 Session 12A: Technical Session: Space Life Sciences
Location: The Braggs Lecture Theatre
| 13:30 | Defined extracellular matrices reveals context-dependent glioblastoma adaptation to altered gravity (abstract) PRESENTER: Giulia Silvani |
| 13:45 | The Role of Mucin 1 in Simulated Microgravity Induced Spheroid Formation of Bronchial Epithelial Cells (abstract) PRESENTER: Michaela Smith |
| 14:00 | Antimicrobial activity of plasma-activated water against ISS-derived bacteria grown in simulated microgravity (abstract) |
| 14:15 | Modelling the deep-space radiation environment for microbial experiments (abstract) PRESENTER: Erin Rose |
| 14:30 | Synthetic Biology and Plants for Space Research – An Opportunity to Bolster Australia’s Food, and National, Security (abstract) |
| 14:45 | Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence for Social Connection in Space and Other Isolated and Confined Environments. (abstract) |
13:30-15:00 Session 12B: Technical Session: Remote Sensing and Space Based Observation
Location: Engineering South S111
| 13:30 | A Lightweight Stratospheric Imaging Payload for Early Bushfire Detection (abstract) PRESENTER: Craig Ingram |
| 13:45 | From Compact to Large-Aperture: Scaling CSIRO's Earth Observation Optical Payload Capability (abstract) |
| 14:00 | ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF SPACE LAUNCHES OVER SRIHARIKOTA, INDIA (abstract) PRESENTER: Esangii Borah |
| 14:15 | Real-Time Detection, Characterization, Triangulation and Tracking of Leo Debris Through a Synchronized Network of Observatories and the Use of Machine Learning Algorithms (abstract) PRESENTER: Dr. Muhammad Akbar Hussain |
| 14:30 | Project Swift: A Commercially Derived Small-Satellite Platform for Precision Space-Based Astronomy (abstract) PRESENTER: David Petit |
| 14:45 | Using radar observations of Starlink satellites to measure the relative Ionospheric and Plasmaspheric contributions to vertical total electron content (abstract) |
13:30-15:00 Session 12C: Technical Session: Space Weather
Chair:
Location: Engineering South S112
| 13:30 | Supergranulation Flows Shape the Orientation of Active Regions on the Sun and Influence Space Weather (abstract) |
| 13:45 | Geomagnetic Storm Hazards Across Latitudes: Magnetic Power and Induced Geoelectric Fields (abstract) PRESENTER: Neesha Schnepf |
| 14:00 | Ionospheric turbulence across Australia during the May 2024 superstorm (abstract) PRESENTER: Brett Carter |
| 14:15 | The Mother of All Storms: An Analysis of Ionospheric Behaviour Over Northern Australia During the 2024 Mother’s Day Geomagnetic Superstorm (abstract) PRESENTER: Elizabeth Phillips |
| 14:30 | A statistical analysis into localised thermospheric density spikes during geomagnetic storms (abstract) PRESENTER: Brett Carter |
| 14:45 | Observations of the Ionosphere and Thermosphere during the May 2024 G5 Storm using Ionosondes, COSMIC-2, SWARM Satellites, and Riometers (abstract) |
15:00-15:30Coffee Break
15:30-17:30 Session 13A: Technical Session: Space Law, Policy & Governance
Chair:
Location: The Braggs Lecture Theatre
| 15:30 | Making Due Regard Visible: A Constraint Mapping Framework for Lunar Governance (abstract) |
| 15:45 | Analysis and opportunities of space in the Pacific Islands (abstract) |
| 16:00 | Mapping Australian Space Debris Research Capabilities to IADC Working Groups (abstract) PRESENTER: Gillian Altham |
| 16:15 | RETHINKING SPACE DEBRIS GOVERNANCE: FROM LIABILITY TO PREVENTION[ (abstract) PRESENTER: Shreyasree Paul |
| 16:30 | Workshops on the Regulation of Space Activities and Technologies (abstract) |
| 16:45 | Sovereign Exposure: Australia's Contingent Liability for Space Activities, and the Case for Proactive Mitigation (abstract) |
15:30-17:30 Session 13B: Technical Session: Atmospheric, Ionospheric & Space Physics
Location: Engineering South S111
| 15:30 | Solar-Cycle Control and ENSO Insensitivity of Sporadic-E Planetary-Wave Activity Over Australia (abstract) |
| 15:45 | Second-Order Bragg Scattering from Two-Stream Instabilities in the High Latitude Ionosphere: Relevance to SuperDARN radars (abstract) |
| 16:00 | The Australian Regional Total Electron Content Model (AUSTEC): Development and Verification (abstract) |
| 16:15 | Moving beyond static definitions: Analysis of solar-wind variability for high-latitude ionospheric characterisation (abstract) PRESENTER: Julie Currie |
| 16:30 | Inward Radial Decay of Magnetopause Perturbations (abstract) |
| 16:45 | First Stereoscopic Evidence of a Coronal Kink Wave Associated with Compact Seismic Sources on the Sun (abstract) PRESENTER: Alina Donea |
| 17:00 | Toward a Supertuned-Global Ionosphere Thermosphere Model: Bayesian Optimisation of Nitric Oxide Reaction Rates for Improved Neutral Density Estimates (abstract) PRESENTER: George Bowden |
| 17:15 | Revisiting Rømer’s Speed-of-Light Measurement with Modern Ephemerides (abstract) PRESENTER: Anay Ashwin |
15:30-17:30 Session 13C: Technical Session: Space Engineering & Technology
Location: Engineering South S112
| 15:30 | Autonomous Software-Based Solar Tracking for Monash High-Altitude Balloon Scientific Payload (abstract) PRESENTER: Eric Watson |
| 15:45 | Real-Time Jamming Detection for Satellite Communication Using CNN-LSTM on Jetson Nano (abstract) PRESENTER: Jonnathan Franco Acuna |
| 16:00 | Scaling Satellite-Only Federated Learning to a 96-Satellite Constellation over a Delay-Tolerant Network (abstract) |
| 16:15 | High frequency spacecraft attitude estimation using neuromorphic vision for dual-stage fine pointing (abstract) PRESENTER: Ashwin Subramaniam |
| 16:30 | Design and in-silico benchmarking of proton beam degraders for trapped protons in Low Earth Orbit (abstract) PRESENTER: Jayden Rinaldo |
| 16:45 | COSMIC YOYO ENGINEERING STUDY - An introduction to the Anti-Gravity Drive (US Pat 12,227,311) and the initial concept of the Cosmic Yoyo variant. (abstract) |
18:30-22:00 Gala Dinner
6:30 pm for a 7:00 pm start
Dress: Smart casual
Location: National Wine Centre of Australia, Corner of Botanic Rd and Hackney Rd, Adelaide Botanical Gardens
Location: National Wine Centre of Australia
Thursday, October 1st
View this program: with abstractssession overviewtalk overview
09:00-10:30 Session 14: Plenary Session III
Chair:
Location: The Braggs Lecture Theatre
| 09:00 | From Earth to the Moon: Building the Future of Exploration (abstract) |
| 09:30 | From Ambition to Capability: Building Australia’s Space Future (abstract) PRESENTER: Matthew Congedi |
| 10:00 | Delivering Mission Success by Engineering to Reduce System Complexity (abstract) |
10:30-11:00Coffee Break
11:00-12:30 Session 15A: Technical Session: Mars, Human Exploration and Habitation
Location: The Braggs Lecture Theatre
| 11:00 | Transonic Free-Flight Experiment for the Dynamic Behavior of a Next-Generation Deep-Space Sample Return Capsule (abstract) PRESENTER: Finn Cracknell |
| 11:15 | Soft Robotics for Space Agriculture: Soft Space Plant Tending Systems (abstract) PRESENTER: Gabriela Coelho |
| 11:30 | Solar Wind Energy Drivers for Martian Ion Escape (abstract) PRESENTER: Neesha Schnepf |
| 11:45 | Possible adverse biological consequences of auto-domestication in future space colonists (abstract) PRESENTER: Maciej Henneberg |
| 12:00 | On-Demand Electromagnetic Radiation Shielding for Human Surface Habitats on Mars (abstract) PRESENTER: Muhammad Akbar Hussain |
| 12:15 | The Mareekh Process: A Hybrid Power Generation Concept for Mars Utilizing Subsurface Water Ice and Environmental Exergy (abstract) PRESENTER: Dr. Muhammad Akbar Hussain |
11:00-12:30 Session 15B: Technical Session: Lunar Surface & Environment
Location: Engineering South S112
| 11:00 | Numerical modelling of high-speed impacts into regolith within Permanently Shadowed Regions on the Moon (abstract) PRESENTER: Jake Maughan |
| 11:15 | Seismic velocities of lunar regolith simulants (abstract) PRESENTER: Karlis Slumba |
| 11:30 | Development of a Centrifugal Method for Characterising Lunar Dust Adhesion on Passive Coatings (abstract) PRESENTER: Amran Al-Barwani |
| 11:45 | Direct shear testing to study the geotechnical properties of dry and icy lunar regolith under varying conditions. (abstract) PRESENTER: Mietta Levingston |
| 12:00 | Hopper Testing for Dynamic Flow of Two Lunar Simulants (abstract) PRESENTER: Paige Osborn |
| 12:15 | Development of a second-generation lunar vibrating drum roller and the influence of roller design on lunar highlands regolith compaction (abstract) PRESENTER: Akshay Kumar Agarwal |
12:30-13:30Lunch Break
13:30-15:00 Session 16A: Technical Session: SSA, Space Debris & Planetary Defence
Location: The Braggs Lecture Theatre
| 13:30 | Southern Hemisphere Planetary Defence Research (abstract) PRESENTER: David Coward |
| 13:45 | ARGUS: Autonomous Narrow-Field Tasking for GEO Catalogue Maintenance (abstract) PRESENTER: Mark Sukhov |
| 14:00 | Radar Doppler Tomographic Image Reconstruction of Asteroids and Space Debris (abstract) PRESENTER: Nick Stacy |
| 14:15 | MANAGEMENT OF A MULTI-USER ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY (abstract) |
| 14:30 | Photometric characterisation of two co-located geostationary satellites (abstract) PRESENTER: Dorota Mieczkowska |
| 14:45 | Rendezvous and Positioning Operations in Geosynchronous Orbit (abstract) PRESENTER: Dorota Mieczkowska |
13:30-15:00 Session 16B: Technical Session: Lunar Engineering & Asteroid Resources
Location: Engineering South S112
| 13:30 | MLI for Lunar Night Survival (abstract) PRESENTER: Andrew Barton |
| 13:45 | Parameterizing Lunar Seismic Scattering: A von Kármán Structural Sweep of Apollo Artificial Impact Envelopes (abstract) PRESENTER: Turki Moaaf |
| 14:00 | Development of a Gravity Offload System for Lunar Rover Mobility Testing using Optical Motion Capture (abstract) |
| 14:15 | Simulating the Radiation Profile of "Roo-ver" the Australian Lunar Rover on the Moon's Surface (abstract) PRESENTER: Matthew Large |
| 14:30 | Continuum mechanics approaches for the simulation of robot-asteroid interactions (abstract) PRESENTER: Shradha Angrish |
| 14:45 | Pt-TRAIL: Platinum Recovery from Asteroid Resources Using Deep Eutectic Solvents, from Extraction to Economic Viability (abstract) PRESENTER: Nazifa Zia |
15:00-15:30Coffee Break