November 4th, 2026 | 2:00 PM CEST
Live on Microsoft Teams.
On November 4th, the ESA Φ-Lab Collaborative Innovation Network will host a new Φ-talk. Details are below.
Meet the speakers
Maria Müller, after graduating with a degree in communication design, co-founded a children's book publishing company in 2012, illustrated children's books, and oversaw corporate and editorial design, as well as marketing, for the company. In parallel, she discovered her passion for voice interfaces that connect people with complex systems. As a conversational user experience designer, she subsequently conceived solutions for graphical interfaces as well as voice controls in the field of smart homes. Since 2023, she has been leading the Conversational Design team at Frank Reply in Frankfurt, Germany.
Dan Fitzpatrick started designing and programming computer interfaces back in 1999, after moving from lithography into the digital world. Today, he is part of the management team at the Conversational AI company Frank Reply, which doesn't stop him from continuing to program voice interfaces and research related technologies himself. His interest in the language sciences has been bolstered by his studies in linguistics and by learning several foreign languages.
Talk abstract
This session explores the unique challenges of designing conversational AI for Earth observation and spaceflight applications. We will examine how voice interfaces can simplify access to complex geospatial data, support mission operations, and enable more natural interaction with increasingly autonomous space systems. The session will discuss the cognitive requirements of different user groups, from scientists and analysts to satellite operators and astronauts, and how conversational architectures must adapt to their distinct workflows and decision-making processes. Finally, we will look ahead to the next generation of space interfaces, in which agentic AI and large language models will transform how humans interact with satellites, Earth observation platforms, mission control systems, and digital mission assistants.
Register Here!