ICSSC Colloquium

Rajeev Gopal is Vice President, Advanced Programs, Hughes Defence, he is responsible for resilient communications, LEO, 5G, HTS, AI/ML and cyber programs within Hughes Defense. He was on the system design of the OneWeb LEO broadband network using 4G/5G and IP network technologies. He earlier served as Network System Engineering lead for Transformational Satellite (TSAT) space segment (with onboard layer 3 packet processing) and was a lead architect for SPACEWAY® 3 (with onboard L2 processing) system, and worked on Mobile Satellite systems (Thuraya, ICO, LEO Teledesic) development teams. He was the chief architect and software manager for the SPACEWAY, a $1.8B development, Network Operations Control Center. Gopal serves on the editorial board of Wiley’s International Journal of Satellite Communications and Networking (IJSCN) and is member of IEEE 5G World Forum, AIAA Communication Systems Technical Committee, and AIAA ICSSC technical program committee. He was a member of the FCC Cyber Security working group in 2010-2011. He contributed for the DHS National Communications Sector Risk assessment report in 2011-2012. As a member of the US President’s NSTAC Satellite Task Force 2009, he co-authored the report on commercial satellite communications and cyber security. He has served on program committees including IEEE Globecom SAC, SPIE, and IEEE SIMA and has been on SIA, AIAA/ICSSC, MILCOM, Global VSAT Forum, and National Institutes of Health (NIH) panels. Earlier, he architected drug screening and laboratory automation systems for NIH with IP networking, interactive distributed computing, and robotics technologies and founded a bioinformatics company. Gopal has published more than 40 technical papers on topics ranging from space, 5G, software, AI/ML, network management, and life sciences, and holds 11 patents on satellite/communications systems.  

Jean-Pierre Choffray, Vice President, Systems Engineering, SES is leading the SES’ Systems Engineering team, responsible for the engineering of innovative satellite systems aligned with SES business targets. Since joining SES in 2001, Jean-Pierre has triggered multiple initiatives having led to impactful technological developments and associated system deployments in space and on the ground. Jean-Pierre has been the initiator of the development of the SES’ Astra2Connect broadband service in Europe, based on a technology initially targeting interactive TV and repurposed to address residential broadband thanks to the very low cost of the associated customer terminal. Jean-Pierre has led the SES-Next initiative, driving major satellite manufacturers to develop software defined satellites with a mission programmed in orbit. These satellites will use very advanced technologies, reaching imposed aggressive business metrics thanks to industrial processes enabled by the satellite standardization. Airbus’ OneSat, Thales’ Space Inspire and Boeing’s 702x have been triggered by this initiative. In his role, Jean-Pierre is currently leading the technical evaluations of upcoming SES’ multi-orbit satellite systems.  

Rich Pang is the Vice President of Corporate Development for Telesat Government Solutions and an industry expert in the development and execution of government strategy, products and services. He is a retired military officer with 21 years of experience in space operations dealing with missile warning and defense, space control, satellite command and control, launch and early orbit testing, and collision avoidance and electromagnetic interference analyses. He also has a strong background in personnel training and evaluation, personnel and resource management, operational testing and evaluation, and space systems’ acquisition. Pang’s prior experience includes serving as the Vice President of Government Segment Market Management at SES Networks where he was responsible for assessing global government and institutional markets, identifying customers' requirements, and leading the identification and/or development of SES products and solutions to meet customers’ needs. Prior to joining SES Networks, Pang worked at SES Government Solutions (SES GS) where he served as the Senior Director for Hosted Payloads. He was responsible for seeking, pursuing, and securing opportunities to support U.S. Government missions around the world through the use of hosted payloads. While there, he managed the Commercially Hosted InfraRed Payload (CHIRP) program for the United States Air Force and captured two other hosted payload contracts: (1) the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) funded by the Federal Aviation Administration; and (2) the Global Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In May 2010, Pang retired from the United States Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel after twenty-one years of service. In his last assignment, he served as the Director of Operations at the Program Executive Office for Environmental Satellites in Silver Spring, Maryland, where his duties encompassed leading a diverse team of over a hundred personnel from the Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce, and government contractors responsible for the operations and maintenance of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program and the WindSat/Coriolis mission. In addition, his division was responsible for establishing operational policy and procedures for the development, transition, and subsequent operations and maintenance of follow-on meteorological satellite programs. Pang was born in Portland, Oregon, and earned his commission as a Distinguished Graduate through the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program in June 1989. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, and a Master of Business Administration Degree from San Jose.  

Klaus Michel is Head of German National Telecom projects, based in Munich, Germany. Since joining Airbus Defence and Space in 2019, he has contributed to many telecommunication missions both on payload and equipment level with a special interest in optical inter-satellite links, quantum key distribution and 5G/6G use cases. Prior to Airbus Defence and Space, Klaus was in charge of strategy and sales for Tesat-Spacecom, a leading provider of RF and optical equipment to the satcom industry. Klaus holds a Diploma in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Sensor technology, both from the University of Rostock, Germany.  

Chanasandra Ravishankar is Senior Vice President of Engineering at Hughes and leads end-to-end system design activities of GSO and NGSO satellite systems. He led the development of GMR-1 Mobile Satellite System air interfaces that adapts terrestrial 3GPP specifications over satellite – these air interfaces have been standardized in ETSI and ITU. He has contributed to 3GPP NTN specifications in the area of mobility management. He has served as Editor of IEEE Transactions on Communications journal and Guest Editor of IEEE Networks Magazine on “Integration of Satellite and 5G Networks”. He serves as an adjunct faculty member at University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA. He received his PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University, USA. Prior to joining Hughes, he was with Comsat Laboratories, Clarksburg, Maryland, USA.  

Jennifer A. Manner is Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at EchoStar Corporation/Hughes Network Systems LLC, where she is responsible for the company’s domestic and international regulatory and policy issues, including spectrum management, new technologies and market access. Prior to this, Ms. Manner held senior positions at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, including as Deputy Chief of the Public Safety Bureau and the Office of Engineering and Technology and Senior Advisory to Commissioner Abnernathy and leading companies. Ms. Manner has published several books on telecommunications issues including on spectrum and foreign market access, as well as scholarly articles. Her most recent book is Spectrum Wars: The Rise of 5G and Beyond (Artech House, 2021). Ms. Manner holds key leadership roles in at the ITU, in government Advisory Committees and trade associations. Ms. Manner is currently the chair of the U.S Department of Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Group, Vice Chair of the International Trade Advisory Group, Group 8 (digital goods), Chair of the Precision Agriculture Task Force, Deployment Working Group, Chair of Sub-working group 2 in ITU-R WP4C and CITEL (Americas) Co-Chair for the ITU-R WRC 2023 Network of Women Initiative. Ms. Manner also serves on the FCC’s Technology Advisory Committee and Cyber Security Interoperability, Reliability and Security Advisory Committee. Ms. Manner also serves on the Bermuda Space Council among other bodies. Ms. Manner is also an award-winning documentary film producer.