The Solar System Internet (SSI) aims to provide a network-centric communication system between all classes of space assets and the ground. Additionally, for space assets, the SSI aims to provide Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) services for assets located beyond earth orbit. In parallel, the SSI will enable the next generation of space-to-ground links (e.g. Ka-band, optical). 

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In December 2019, the 3GPP standardization group approved a dedicated work-item for the implementation of a new set of 5G New Radio (NR) specifications allowing the integration with mobile broadband satellite networks. This is the first time ever that the space industry has this challenging opportunity of a full integration with terrestrial cellular systems, and to benefit from very large economies of scale.

• a Receive Telescope with a 80cm aperture mounted on a very precise Mount with arcsecond pointing and tracking accuracy
• a Transmit Laser Package (precise pulsed source capable to operate at 532nm and 1064nm)
• a time-gated photon-counting Detection Package (filters and detectors sensitive at 532nm and 1064nm)
• a precise Control, Timing, Calibration and Processing System as the central "heart" of the LRS

ESA missions with downlink in X-band are limited to 10 MHz of bandwidth and 8.75 Mbps of data, using the current GAIA modulation. GAIA-NIR is requiring higher data rates and it is pushing the limits at X-band.The CCSDS-131.2-B standard defines 27 Adaptive Coding and Modulation (ACM) modes that are intended to allow fine control of information rate in a given bandwidth to optimise data throughput by minimising the required link margin.

Currently EO missions are operated in S/X-Band with payload data in X-Band. New EO missions will have payload data in K-Band and TTC still in S-Band. In the long term TTC will be moved to X-Band still keeping payload data in K-Band. Presently only US suppliers are able to provide antenna radomes operating over different frequency bands. It is intended to develop an European alternative to US suppliers in the domain of high/multi-frequency application like the one needed for future Earth Observation missions.

SIDLOC (Spacecraft Identification and Localization) is a new transmission scheme proposed by Libre Space Foundation to enable LEO satellite identification and tracking. The SIDLOC system relies on a reduced size autonomous transmitter that requires minimal integration and area on the carrier spacecraft. The ground segment of the SIDLOC system utilizes the existing SatNOGS network and the UHF band to perform the signal demodulation and identification. The SIDLOC system uses DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) PSK modulated signals with an effective bitrate of ~50 bits/s.

The ENHANCE (Enabling Harbor to Harbor Autonomous Situational Awareness in Sea Ice Conditions) project is aimed to study How to improve the autonomous navigation and situational awareness in the maritime domain by utilising ML and AI concepts. For this end, we utilise both traditional RGB cameras as well as IR cameras to obtain as diverse as possible data set of sea-ice conditions to train a ML model that can identify an ice tracks and objects, such as buoys, that can help in navigation.

SpaceWire has become a de facto standard for payload systems (including for Command & Control) and its Real-Time derivatives are now being considered for avionics. The capability provided by SpaceWire to develop data handling systems based on high-speed networks allows much greater performance but implies implementing communication bus management techniques specific to SpaceWire. As network management is not part of the basic SpaceWire protocol ECSS-E-ST-50-12C (Rev.1), it must be provided to industry in the form of an additional standard.