SpaceVrse

How We Control Interplanetary Spacecraft | Mariangela Testa | SpaceVrse Ep. 119 #shorts

In this episode of Friends of SpaceVrse, we sit down with Mariangela Testa, an Interplanetary Spacecraft Controller at LSE Space, working on missions at ESA's European Space Operations Centre. Mariangela's career spans the full arc of spacecraft engineering — from designing mission phases for a student CubeSat selected for ESA's Fly Your Satellite! program at Politecnico di Milano, to interning at Rocket Factory Augsburg, to presenting research at the International Astronautical Congress, to now operating spacecraft navigating the deep space between planets. Her academic journey took her through spacecraft systems engineering, on-board data handling, operational databases, and mission control design — always with a focus on real operational complexity. Her thesis contributed to IceBrain-1, a 16U CubeSat developed by Luleå Technical University, and her ASMAD project explored communication and control systems for a network of Mars orbiters, landers, and rovers dedicated to studying Martian weather. Beyond the engineering, Mariangela brings a deeply human perspective to her field. She taught herself Russian as a teenager, inspired by astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. She is a devoted reader of science fiction — particularly Isaac Asimov — and dreams of writing her own sci-fi novel one day. When she's not working spacecraft operations or lost in a book, she's swimming, running, or exploring a new corner of the world. This is a conversation about what it actually means to control spacecraft across interplanetary distances, the path from student association to ESA operations, and what science fiction teaches us about why space exploration matters. #spacevrse #friendsofspace #universe Click here to Subscribe :- https://bit.ly/SpaceVrse Follow Us On: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spacevrs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spacevrse LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spacevrse Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@spacevrseofficial Snapchat: https://snapchat.com/t/p4Mf5zJj