Joan-Manel Casalta

Sener developments in QKD LEO

Joan Manel Casalta holds an MSc in Telecommunications Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the same university.

Since 2019, Joan Manel Casalta has served as Director of Science and Space Programmes at Sener, an engineering and technology group with a workforce of 4,500 employees, renowned for its capacity for innovation and international development.

Joan Manel Casalta has more than 25 years of experience managing complex multidisciplinary projects in secure communications, scientific facilities and space payloads. At Sener, he is responsible for commercial activities related to Optical Communications and QKD, S2P and ESA Science programmes funded by the Spanish Space Agency.

Before joining Sener in 2000, he worked at the SEAT Technical Centre in the automotive sector and at Johnson-Iberelco. At Sener, he has led projects for ELT, VISTA, ALMA, the European Solar Telescope, Gran Telescopio Canarias, and several microgravity payloads for the International Space Station. He has also led proposals for QKD-based secure communications systems and payloads for ESA missions including JUICE, ARIEL, LISA, Comet Interceptor, EnVision and Vigil.