EPSC / DPS 2025 – Helsinki – September 2025
“The Use of Machine Learning in Planetary Sciences: Opportunities, Challenges, and Risks”:
Conveners:
Following the success of last year’s inaugural Europlanet Space Innovation night (E-SPIN) in EPSC/Berlin, we are delighted to invite participant to the second edition of E‑SPIN, taking place at the joint EPSC–DPS conference in Helsinki, Finland. This unique setting brings together the Europlanet community and our colleagues from across the Atlantic, offering an even broader platform for exchange and collaboration.
This unique setting brings together the Europlanet community and our colleagues from across the Atlantic, offering an even broader platform for exchange and collaboration.
Event Highlights:
• Moderated Panel Discussion (19:30–21:00): Join a diverse panel of speakers to explore this year’s theme, “The Use of Machine Learning in Planetary Sciences: Opportunities, Challenges, and Risks“, in a moderated discussion with active audience participation.
• Networking Reception (21:00–22:00): Continue the conversation over finger food and drinks, and create new connections with colleagues from Europe, the US, and beyond, across academia, industry, policy and communication.
• Date and time: Tuesday, 9th September 2025 – 19:30 to 22:00 EEST (UTC +3 hours).
• Location: “Uranus – Helsinki Hall”, 2nd floor of Finlandia Hall, Helsinki, Finland (same as EPSC-DPS)
Our invited panelists (in alphabetic order) offered unique perspectives and insights to foster an engaging discussion and encouraged the development of cross-community interactions:
Dr. Victoria Da Poian
NASA/GSFC (USA)
Victoria Da Poian earned a Master’s in Aerospace Engineering from ISAE-Supaero in 2019, specializing in space systems and planetary science. After internships at ESA and CNES, she joined NASA Goddard’s Planetary Environments Laboratory, where she works on the MOMA instrument for
ExoMars, the DraMS instrument for Dragonfly, and research on ocean worlds missions.
She also collaborates with the Planetary Geology, Geophysics & Geochemistry Lab through field experiments.
Her focus is on combining planetary and computer science to advance science autonomy in space
exploration.
Dr Joern Helbert
European Space Agency – ESTEC
Currently Joern Helbert is the head the “Solar System Section” in the ESA Science Engagement and Oversight Office which contains all project scientists for the heliospheric and planetary missions.
In general, Jörn Helbert’s scientific interest lies in the investigation of planetary surfaces under extreme conditions. He has been coordinating the “Distributed Planetary Simulation Facilities” as part of the EuroPlanet research infrastructure for several years. In this network of seven leading laboratories in Europe, conditions can be simulated from the inner to the outer solar system and from planetary atmospheres deep into the planet’s interior.
Dr Tomas Kohout
Aalto University, Finland
Focus of the research of Tomas Kohout is the planetary geophysics, reflectance spectroscopy, space weathering, impact processes, and the space exploration. He tries to understand planets and asteroids through laboratory studies of meteorites. He is a PI of the Milani CubeSat for the ESA Hera mission, science operations working group member and MIRMIS payload scientist of the ESA Comet Interceptor mission, and a science team member of the BepiColombo MIXS instrument.
Dr Michal Shimoni
Kuva Space, Espoo (Finland)
Through her extensive knowledge of machine learning, multi-sensor imaging, 3D and physical modelling, and sensor integration into airborne and spaceborne platforms, she has become an expert in several research and development programs of the European Commission, NATO, and the European Defence Agency. Michal is currently employed as the Head of Analytics and Applications for Kuva Space, where she coordinates the development of products and services.
Ms Nimisha Verma
German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin
Currently, Nimisha is PhD student as part of the MERTIS team in the Planetary Laboratories department at German Aerospace Center, Berlin working with AI and spectroscopy for Mapping the mineral distribution using the data collected via MERTIS instrument onboard BepiColombo.
We hope to build on last year’s success and firmly establish the Europlanet Space Innovation Night as a highlight of the EPSC programme.
Register your interest here (for EPSC/DPS participants) : https://forms.gle/3yNH5LqDdkHn9MRF8