Call for Ideas: Cybersecurity Experiments in Orbit
The European Space Agency is pleased to invite researchers, engineers, and innovators to propose experimental ideas for testing new technologies, methods, algorithms, protocols, and techniques in the domain of cybersecurity applied to space systems.
Selected experiments will be conducted on the CyberCUBE, the first European satellite in orbit dedicated to cyber security experiments.
A few words about the CyberCUBE
CyberCUBE is a 3U CubeSat from the European Space Agency dedicated to cybersecurity experiments in orbit, to be launched at an altitude of 500 Km.
The CyberCUBE is equipped with:
- Onboard data monitoring for real-time telemetry/data analysis
- Secure communication channels with configurable parameters
- Software Defined Radio fully reconfigurable
- Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) fully reprogrammable
- A camera that can be used for ground-based threat identification
The launch is planned for the first quarter of 2026.
The Call for Ideas
This Call for Ideas seeks innovative experiments to investigate and demonstrate cybersecurity technologies and methods to enhance the resilience, detection, and mitigation of cyber threats affecting space-based infrastructures.
Proposals for experiments can include (but are not limited to) one or more of the following areas:
- Intrusion detection and mitigation for satellite communication systems
- Anomaly detection using onboard data and AI-based techniques
- Resilience mechanisms against cyberattacks targeting satellite operations
- Secure data transmission and encryption strategies
- Threat identification from orbit using the onboard camera
- Demonstration of on-board security mitigations
- Novel approaches to satellite authentication and access control
Submission Guidelines
We welcome academia, industry experts, and independent researchers with expertise in cybersecurity, space systems, and AI/ML for security in space to submit their ideas fir in orbit demonstration of cyber security experiments for space systems.
Prospective authors are invited to submit an Abstract (max 500 words) outlining the concept and expected impact, including:
- Description of required onboard resources and testing methodology
- Potential benefits for future space cybersecurity applications
All submissions must be thoroughly anonymized for double-blind reviewing, and they should be written in English.
- Submission deadline: 13th July 2025.
- Authors will be notified by the 1st of September 2025.
More information regarding the submission process will be published soon.
The top 3 selected ideas:
- Will be the first to be demonstrated at the CyberCUBE in orbit, the first European satellite dedicated to cybersecurity experiments in orbit.
- Authors will have the opportunity to present their idea using a poster at the Security for Space Systems (3S) Conference and to provide a turbo talk.
- For student teams selected in the top 3 ideas, two (2) complimentary conference tickets will be provided per team.
Join us in pioneering cybersecurity for the next generation of space systems!