GaSSE Workshop 2026

Geospace and Solar System Exploration Workshop

– Mission Concept, Design, Development, and Deployment

GaSSE workshop 2026 April 14-17

At the 2024 annual meeting of the ASROC (the Astronomical Society of the Republic of China), Deputy Director Tien-Chuan Kuo of TASA (Taiwan Space Agency) gave an exciting talk describing the future of TASA and its challenges and opportunities, which raised enormous interest from the astronomical community. In the same meeting, TSU (Taiwan Space Union) president, Prof. Wing Ip, held an extended discussion session on the drafting of the white paper on the decadal planning of Taiwan’s space program 「十年太空調查白皮書」for the 4th 10-year plan of TASA[1]. Inspired by this vibrant development of Taiwan’s space science, the Center of Astronomy and Gravitation (CAG) of the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) is determined not to be absent from the grand roadmap of Taiwan’s space program. With the university’s full support, we decided to hold a workshop on Geospace and Solar System Exploration – Mission Concept, Design, Development, and Deployment in February 2025 (GaSSE2025) as the first step. Because GaSSE2025 was quite a “successful” workshop and strongly enthused the audience, workshop participants hoped CAG would continue it. So here we are. GaSSE2026 will follow the main theme of GaSSE2025 and focus on space mission initiatives, planning, and sciences, covering
    • Geospace exploration
    • Earth orbital missions
    • Near-Earth missions
    • Inner Solar-System missions
    • Interplanetary missions
    • Deep Space missions
In particular, topics on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), lunar missions, and CubeSats are encouraged. Oral and poster presentations are both welcome. Oral presentations include both invited and contributed talks. Stimulating plenary talks given by internationally renowned leading scientists in Solar System exploration are invited, including:
    • Wing Ip (NCU) on “On Peaceful Space Exploration – Near and Far”
    • Scott Bolton[2] (SwRI: Southwest Research Institute) on “Juno Results and Follow-on Concepts for Jupiter System and Ice Giant Exploration”
    • Paul Hartogh[3] (MPS: Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research) on “The JUpiter ICy moons Explorer: Science and Mission Overview”
    • Michael Kueppers[4] (ESAC: European Space Astronomy Centre) on “The Comet Interceptor mission – Visiting a pristine world”
The GaSSE2026 workshop will be held from 2026 April 14 to 17 (Tuesday to Friday) on the Gongguan campus of NTNU in Taipei City, Taiwan. The event is aimed at research scientists, engineers, and academic faculty. Early-career scientists and graduate students are also eligible to enroll.

[1] The 3rd 10-year plan of TASA was from 2019 to 2028 originally, and it is now extended to 2031. The 4th 10-year plan will be from 2032 to 2041 consequently.

[2] Dr. Bolton is the Principal Investigator for Juno, a NASA’s ‘New Frontiers program’ mission launched in 2011 to study Jupiter’s origin, atmosphere, magnetosphere, and interior structure, which began primary science in 2016.

[3]  Dr. Hartogh is the head of the planetary atmospheres group at MPS, the Principal Investigator of the Submillimetre Wave Instrument (SWI) on the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE), which is an interplanetary spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) to orbit and study three icy moons of Jupiter: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa.

[4] Dr. Küppers is the Project Scientist of the Comet Interceptor, an ESA-led mission. Comet Interceptor will be the first mission to visit a long-period comet coming directly from the Oort Cloud. After launch, the spacecraft will be ‘parked’ in space before moving to intercept a suitable pristine comet.

Plenary Speakers

Scott Bolton (SwRI)
Paul Hartogh (MPS)
Wing Ip (葉永烜) (NCU)
Michael Küppers (ESAC)

Confirmed Invited Speakers

Cheng-Yu Chan (詹鎮宇) (TASA)
Hsiang-Kuang Chang (張祥光) (NTHU)
Chi-Kuang Chao (趙吉光) (NCU)
Evan Hsu (許耀文) (TASA)
Chun-Shun Jao (饒駿頌) (NIAR/NCHC)
Frank Lin (林柏川) (Rapidtek)
Melaine Saillenfest (LTE, Paris Observatory)
Shiuanhal Shiu (許軒豪) (Liscotech)
Kai-Ti Wang (汪愷悌) (TKU)
Thomas Yen (顏伯勳) (Tensor Tech)

Location

Auditorium 5F, Science Education Building, National Taiwan Normal University, Gongguan Campus

Address: 88, Sec. 4, Ting-Chou Rd., Wenshan District, Taipei 116, Taiwan R.O.C.

Registration

Online registration will be available at https://www.cag.ntnu.edu.tw/index.php/en/events/GaSSE2026/. The meeting venue’s capacity limits registration to 60 participants. A registration fee of US$250 is required for overseas participants, NT$3,000 for local participants, and NT$1,500 for students. Registration fees are waived for all invited speakers. Registration fees are also waived for student volunteers. A welcome reception on Day 1, the workshop banquet on Day 3, plus coffee/tea/snacks for breaks and lunches for all four days, are included in the registration. A half-day excursion is planned pending registration. Please pay cash in TW dollars at the on-site registration desk on the 1st day of the workshop. We do NOT accept checks and credit cards. Note that you will receive a receipt with your institution’s tax ID (統編) if you provide this information on the registration form.

Important Dates

Jan 05, 2026 (Mon): Open for abstract submission and registration
Feb 28, 2026 (Sat): Deadline for contributed talk abstract submission 
Mar 10, 2026 (Tue): Deadline for online registration; notification of talk acceptance
Apr 14, 2026 (Tue): Onsite registration deadline; workshop starts; registration payment on site

Scientific Organizing Committee

Scott Bolton, SwRI, co-Chair
Yi-Jehng Kuan (管一政), CAG, co-Chair
Yueh-Ning Lee (李悅寧), CAG
Ying Liao (廖瑩), NTUT
Chun-Chi Lin (林俊吉), CAG
Hung-Yi Pu (卜宏毅), CAG
Wei-Ling Tseng (曾瑋玲), CAG
Jung-Chen Tung (董容辰), NTUT

*This workshop is sponsored by the Office of Academic Development, College of Science, and the iCAG program of the Higher Education Sprout Project of the National Taiwan Normal University and co-sponsored by the Taiwan Space Union (TSU).