SpAice it up!
AI in Space …
Schedule
DATE: October 11, 2025
Venue: INDIAN AFFAIRS, Chancery Pavilion, Bangalore
| Time | Event |
| Tea / Coffee Break 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM | |
| 11:30 AM – 11:45 AM | Welcome |
| 11:45 AM– 1:00 PM | Keynote – Dr. Ramakrishnan Rajagopalan SkyServe, Former Group Director at SAC/ISRO “Translating AI to generate actionable insights from remote sensing data” |
| Lunch Break 1:00 PM– 2:00 PM | |
| 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM | Invited Talk – Prof. Yogesh Wadadekar Professor at National Centre for Radio Astrophysics “Galaxy evolution using big data and AI” |
| 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM | Panel Discussion – “AI or not to AI that is a question: Challenges in AI for space applications” Prof. Supratik Mukhopadhyay, Dr. Ramakrishnan Rajagopalan, Moderator – Dr. Shailesh Deshpande, Principal Scientist, TCS research |
| Tea / Coffee Break 4:00 PM– 4:30 PM | |
Paper Submission Deadline: 15 August 2025, 11:59 pm AOE.
About the workshop
With more than 9000 active spacecraft orbiting earth, some capturing images of earth providing vital earth observations – at required spatial and temporal resolution, some providing critical communications and navigation infrastructure, spacetech plays a critical role in today’s information age. In this workshop space applications meet an equally fascinating modern technology: AI.
You will experience exciting talks by eminent space scientists and researchers who are actively providing efficient computing in space and intelligent analysis for environmental insights using the power of AI.
We invite research papers on interesting AI application to following broad areas:
- Intelligent sensing for earth observations
- Intelligent onboard data processing
- Generating actionable insights from earth observations
These are indicative broad areas of contributions. Any complete work or work in
progress which uses modern AI tools, techniques, and systems is welcome. Challenging
problems in the entire remote sensing value chain (that is, from sensing to data analysis
and dissemination) would be considered. Please connect with any of the co-chairs if
you have questions.
- Shailesh Deshpande, TCS Research
- Prasant Misra, TCS Research
- Supratik Mukhopadhyay, LSU, USA
Submission Instructions
Papers should be at most 4 pages, including title, abstract, figures and results, but excluding references, and not published or under review elsewhere. Papers should be prepared as per IEEE conference proceedings format. Please submit your papers through Microsoft CMT.
All accepted workshop full papers will be included in the IEEE proceedings. At least one author of each accepted paper must register for the conference and present the paper. In addition, no-shows of accepted papers at the workshop will result in those papers NOT being included in the proceedings.
Keynote Speaker and Panelist
Dr. Ramakrishnan Rajagopalan
Scientist –H (Retired), Former Group Director of Data Products & Image Processing Technical Advisor – SkyServe
Title
Translating AI to generate actionable insights from remote sensing data
Bio
He has M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics from University of Madras (Madras Institute of Technology) in 1977 and Ph.D in Mathematics (Image Processing) from U. P. Technical University, Lucknow in 2004. His research interest includes Distributed computing, Software Architecture, DBMS, Software Quality Assurance and Signal & Image Processing of the Remote Sensing sensors, Data Processing, Artificial Intelligence & GIS.
Joined as a Scientist in Space Applications Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad in 1978, he has held various functional designations as Deputy Operations Director of IRS (Indian Remote Sensing) Mission in the area of Ground Segment – Data Products Software.
He was designated as Project Director of Indian National Satellite (INSAT) Meteorological Data Processing System. He has worked in prestigious missions such as CHANDRAYAAN, Mars Orbiter.
He has won numerous awards at national and international level for his contributions to remote sensing. Excellence Award for the Design of Real time Analysis , Processing and Information Dissemination (RAPID) and INSAT Meteorological Data Processing System (IMDPS) in 2014 at IMD on 15 Jan 2015; and ISRO Merit Award – 2015 for outstanding performance & high productivity to mention a few.
Invited Speaker
Prof. Yogesh Wadadekar
Astronomer and Professor at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Title
Galaxy evolution using big data and AI
Bio
Professor Wadadekar completed his B.Tech from IIT Bombay (1994), followed by M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Physics from IUCAA, Pune. His doctoral thesis earned him the prestigious Best PhD Thesis Award from the Indian Physics Association in 2000. His international experience includes six years of postdoctoral research in France and the USA, including serving as Astronomical Software Scientist for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey at Princeton University.
Since joining NCRA in 2007, he has been leading groundbreaking research on galaxies and pioneering AI applications in astronomical data analysis. Professor Wadadekar’s research encompasses galaxy evolution, large-area sky surveys, and active galactic nuclei, with particular expertise in machine earning applications. He has co-authored over 100 publications with more than 8,600 citations. His research group has achieved significant breakthroughs in multiwavelength studies of galaxy evolution using telescopes from space and from the ground.
He leads the development of India’s software contributions to the Square Kilometer Array observatory (SKAO), including plans for India’s prototype SKA regional centre. His current work focuses on deep learning techniques for galaxy property prediction and developing computational frameworks for handling massive telescope data volumes.
Panelist
Dr. Arpan Pal
Distinguished Chief Scientist and Research Area Head
Embedded Devices and Intelligent Systems
TCS Research
Bio
Arpan Pal has more than 33 years of experience in Intelligent Sensing, Signal Processing &AI, Edge Computing and Affective Computing. Currently, as Distinguished Chief Scientist and Research Area Head, Embedded Devices and Intelligent Systems, TCS Research, he is working in the areas of Connected Health, Smart Manufacturing, Smart Retail and Remote Sensing.
He has filed 225+ patents (out of which 140+ granted in different geographies) and has published 200+ papers and book chapters in reputed conferences and journals. He is listed among the top 15 innovators in India in terms of patents. He is two times winner of Tata Group top Innovation award in Tata Innovista under Piloted technology category. He is also recipient of Distinguished Alumnus award from IIT Kharagpur.
Prior to joining Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Arpan had worked for DRDO, India as Scientist for Missile Seeker Systems and in Rebeca Technologies as their Head of Real-time Systems. He is a B. Tech and M. Tech from IIT, Kharagpur, India and PhD. from Aalborg University, Denmark.
He has written three complete books on IoT, Digital twins in Manufacturing and Application of AI in Cardiac Disease screening. He is on the governing/review/advisory board of some of the Government organizations like MeitY, IIIT and Technology Innovation Hubs. He is on the editorial board of notable journals like ACM Transactions on Embedded Systems and is on the committee of notable conferences like IEEE Sensors, IEEE ICASSP and IEEE Percom.
Linked In – http://in.linkedin.com/in/arpanpal
Google Scholar – http://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=hkKS-xsAAAAJ&hl=en
Orcid – https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9101-8051
Prof. Supratik Mukhopadhyay
Louisiana State University, USA
Bio
Supratik Mukhopadhyay is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Louisiana State University (LSU). His research spans multiple areas including Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Formal Methods, and Computational Biology. He has made significant contributions to applying AI and formal verification in diverse domains such as cybersecurity, healthcare, smart infrastructure, and environmental monitoring.
Prior to joining LSU, Dr. Mukhopadhyay held research and faculty positions at prestigious institutions and has collaborated extensively with national laboratories and industry. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in top-tier journals and conferences and has received several federal research grants from agencies including NSF, DOE, and NASA.
Supratik received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Indian Statistical Institute. He is actively involved in interdisciplinary research and innovation and serves on editorial boards and program committees of leading conferences in AI and systems
Panel Discussion
Title
AI or not to AI that is a question: Challenges in AI for space applications
Panelists: Dr. Arpan Pal, Prof. Supratik Mukhopadhyay, Dr. Ramakrishnan Rajagopalan
Moderator: Dr. Shailesh Deshpande