On October 21 at the Future Leaders Celebration in Mountain View, SSPI will honor its seventh annual cohort of the “20 Under 35” young space and satellite professionals to watch in the years ahead. “20 Under 35” honorees are employees or entrepreneurs who have demonstrated initiative, creativity and problem-solving skills that created new capabilities, overcame major challenges and ensured excellence in technology and service. The three top-ranking on the list will be announced that night and honored with a Promise Award, recognizing their status as leaders of the 2024 cohort.

Want to join us at the Future Leaders Celebration? Tickets are still on sale, so get yours now at www.satfuture.com.

Yaqoob Alqassab
Engineering Specialist, National Space Science Agency, Bahrain

Yaqoob Alqassab is an Engineering Specialist at the Bahrain National Space Science Agency (NSSA). He joined NSSA in 2019 as a Senior Engineer and was promoted to his current position in 2024 in recognition of his dedication and impressive job performance. Yaqoob has cultivated a diverse skillset, including expertise in satellite engineering, Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem (ADCS) programming, structural and thermal analyses, system analysis and mission analysis. While working for NSSA, Yaqoob developed the first Bahraini software in space for ADCS as part of his work on Light-1, a 3U CubeSat designed to detect Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes and the first joint project between Bahrain and the UAE.

Howard Chang
Assistant Chief Counsel, NASA – Goddard Space Flight Center

Howard Chang has dedicated his law career to developing space legal policy since his time as a law student at Georgetown University Law Center. He worked as an extern for the Secure World Foundation before completing two distinguished federal clerkships; one for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas and the second for the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. This second clerkship led to him joining K&L Gates as a white-collar investigations and litigation associate. Howard worked on multiple space finance projects while at K&L Gates, securing investments for satellite operators and coordinating with global legal teams, particularly in the Asia Pacific region, to develop the space business law practice.

Konark Chopra
Griffin Mission Propulsion Lead, Astrobotic Technology

Konark Chopra began his career in space and satellite as both an engineer and a leader while completing his Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering at Virginia Tech. He co-founded the Orbital Launch Team at Virginia Tech, a team that grew to over 100 members and aimed to be the first amateur organization to design, build and fly a rocket to low Earth orbit. During his time at Virginia Tech, Konark took an internship at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) where he designed and developed ultra-low vacuum silicone seals for the science sampling carousel of the Perseverance Rover. He also interned at SpaceX during the early days of Starlink, when only 2 demo satellites were in space. Konark joined Astrobotic as a Propulsion Engineer to focus on their new mission targeting the lunar south pole and to assist in Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lunar Lander program, the first commercial lunar lander to be developed and launched by a U.S. company.

Paige (Cooley) Webster
Director of Commercial Solutions, ATLAS Space Operations

Paige (Cooley) Webster joined ATLAS Space Operations in November of 2021 as a Technical Sales Engineer in Client Solutions after completing three internships at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her keen eye for identifying process improvements led her to spearhead the development of a new role that aligned the Operations, Integrations, Engineering and Client Solutions teams to create a more streamlined approach to customer relations. Paige’s exemplary performance in this new role she helped create led her to be promoted to her current position of Director of Commercial Solutions, a position in which she focuses primarily on sales and business development, developing ground station solutions for a wide variety of unique missions.

Alberto Diago Gallardo
Director, Strategic Solutions, Mynaric

Alberto Diago Gallardo began his career in the space and satellite industry while completing his Bachelor’s thesis at the Universitat Politècnica de València, which he conducted collaboration with Mynaric. Impressed with his efforts, the company hired Alberto full-time as one of its first 25 employees once he had completed his thesis. As Mynaric expanded to an organization of over 300 employees, Alberto rose through the ranks from his original position as a Development/Systems Engineer to his current position as Director of Strategic Solutions. He plays a critical role in securing new business opportunities and maintaining robust customer relationships. In his current position, Alberto leads a team of five engineers specializing in several different areas, including solutions, customer projects and customer support integration.

Alexandria (Alex) Duran
Integration & Test Lead, Viasat

Alexandria (Alex) Duran began her career in the space and defense industry at Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Company, after completing her Bachelor of Science in Engineering and Master of Business Administration at Arizona State University. She joined Viasat in 2017 as a Quality Engineer, where she owned the product quality of components and modules for the Viasat-3 satellites. Alex was nominated for Viasat’s Operations Leadership Program (OLP) in 2019, a highly selective initiative aimed at grooming future leaders within the company. She completed four six-month rotations in various departments, including Supply Chain, Business Operations, Operations Program Management and Integration & Test, and honed her leadership skills, adaptability and technical proficiency throughout. Upon completing the program, Alex was appointed to her current position of Flight 3 Integration & Test Lead, a role in which she oversaw a team of engineers and technicians to integrate and test the satellite in the Tempe, AZ High Bay.

Katie Gwozdecky
Spacecraft Operations Manager, Rocket Lab USA

joined Rocket Lab USA in 2020 as a Mechanical Design Engineer after completing her Bachelor of Applied Science and Engineering in Mechanical Engineering and her Master of Applied Sciences in Space Systems Engineering at the University of Toronto. In her first role at Rocket Lab, she was the subject matter expert sent to Rocket Lab New Zealand to support and mentor local staff in establishing the reaction wheel production facility for Rocket Lab. Katie developed work instructions and trained technicians and supported deliveries of proto-flight and engineering models for customers while there. In 2022, after transitioning to Rocket Lab USA in Long Beach, Katie took on Systems Engineering for Rocket Lab’s first commercial rideshare LEO spacecraft bus, now called Pioneer.

Bryan Ho
Member of Technical Staff, Systems, MDA Space

After completing his commercial flight training and in 2015, Bryan Ho recognized the potential in the rapidly growing Canadian unmanned aerial systems (UAS) industry and joined PrecisionHawk, a fixed-wing drone manufacturing company, where he supported flight operations and testing. He continued working in the UAS industry, completing his Master’s specializing in UAS aerodynamics, all while supporting the startup of a civilian drone training company based in Toronto. In 2018, he started working at NAVBLUE, an Airbus company, where he specialized in aircraft performance engineering with a focus on flight operations and navigational technologies. From NAVBLUE, he moved on to Loon, a former Google subsidiary, where he worked on flight operations engineering aimed a providing internet access to remote areas via high-altitude stratospheric balloons. Bryan joined MDA Space in 2022 as a member of the satellite operations systems engineering team in the company’s Geointelligence business area, where he develops satellite operations capabilities for future Earth observation space missions.

Scarlett Koller
Co-Founder and CEO, Mithril Technologies

Scarlett Koller co-founded Mithril Technologies in 2023 and currently serves as its CEO. Her role primarily involves steering the startup through the challenging landscape of defense tech hardware development. Scarlett and her co-founder Professor Zack Cordero are working on innovative applications of electrostatic actuation technology for satellite membrane reflectors, an idea that was spun out of MIT’s Cordero Lab for Aerospace Materials & Structures. Scarlett began her career in the space and satellite industry in 2016 after completing her Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering at MIT. She joined SpaceX as a Certification Engineer specializing in Crew Dragon Life Support Systems, where she was instrumental in developing a qualification acceptance testing strategy in collaboration with NASA’s Commercial Crew program. As part of this role, Scarlett secured NASA’s approval for Life Support & Thermal Control subsystems, and she was also later responsible for obtaining three variances through Engineering Change Boards for the program.

Ryan Kramlich
Senior GNC Engineer, Astroscale US

Ryan Kramlich joined Astroscale US in 2022 as a Modeling & Simulation Engineer before transitioning to a much-needed role as a Guidance, Control and Navigation (GNC) Engineer. Within one year of working in this new capacity, he was promoted to Senior GNC Engineer, the position he holds today. As leader of his team, Ryan provides a vision and tracks how daily activities impact progress toward the team’s longer-term goals, ensuring that everything runs smoothly and is improved where necessary. On the engineering side, he led the GNC/M&S team in selecting a particularly valuable simulation environment for algorithm design and verification and also created a long-term simulation development plan that spans algorithm design, integration with the ground support system and assembly/integration/test leading up to operations. Ryan recently presented the GNC solution for one of Astroscale’s programs at a major design review, prompting one of the attending outside consultants to note how impressive his team and its efforts were.

Thomas Larkin
Founder, NanTenna

Thomas Larkin is a dedicated innovator and entrepreneur who founded NanTenna, a cutting-edge company specializing in antenna technologies for military satellite communications, in 2020. In only 4 years, NanTenna has established itself as a leader in the field, developing and delivering antennas designed to revolutionize traditional military SATCOM antennas. Thomas founded NanTenna with an initial Phase I SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) grant from AFWERX. After rigorous research and design phases, NanTenna released its first product to the market in May 2022, where it met with national and international acclaim. Under Thomas’ leadership, the company has sold hundreds of low-profile UHF TACSAT antennas, which have not only enhanced communication capabilities but have also been credited with saving lives on the battlefield by enabling real-time video and messaging transmission over UHF TACSAT channels.

Joseph Lyon
Senior Spacecraft NPI Applications Engineer, Planet

Joseph Lyon began his career in the space and satellite industry while completing his Master of Science in Astronautical Engineering at the University of Southern California, where he conducted pioneering research in spacecraft propulsion. After graduation, he joined Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks, where he served as a Technical Support Engineer resolving complex engineering design, software deployment, installation, networking and licensing issues. Joseph joined Planet in 2022 as a Spacecraft NPI Applications Engineer. In this role, he provides engineering support for the development, manufacturing and scaling of Planet’s current and next-generation spacecraft. Joseph serves as the point of contact for over 80 personnel, resolving key issues related to spacecraft hardware lifecycle and engineering applications, and interfaces seamlessly across various teams.

Mackenzie Mason
Engineering Manager for Space Mission Systems Structural Dynamics, Boeing

Mackenzie Mason began her career at Boeing in 2014 as a Structural Dynamics Engineer. Her early contributions to the company were pivotal to the development of the 702MP/MP+ spacecraft, as she provided crucial recommendations to program management offices and customers and led numerous innovations in dynamic loads analysis and testing. Mackenzie spearheaded the dynamic shaker table move at Boeing’s El Segundo site, successfully completing a $5 million investment. She was also instrumental in the successful vibration, shock and acoustic qualification of hardware for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which ensured the successful launches of Orbital Flight Tests 1 and 2. Mackenzie was promoted to Engineering Manager for the Space Mission Systems Structural Dynamics department in 2021, where she now leads a team of 16 high-performing engineers.

Jane McNicoll
Manager of Mission Management and Payload Integration, Rocket Lab USA

Jane McNicoll began her career at SpaceX after completing a double degree in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Washington. She worked on SpaceX’s nascent Starlink project as a Systems Engineer and played a critical role in the launch campaigns of the first two Starlink satellites. Jane joined Rocket Lab USA as a Mission Manager, where she immediately distinguished herself by co-managing or managing approximately 1/3 of the company’s 50 launches. She was promoted to her current position as Manager of Mission Management and Payload Integration in recognition of her achievements and now leads an 8-person team responsible for managing all Electron missions and soon-to-be Neutron missions for the company. Jane was responsible for expanding the team from its initial 4 members to its current 8 over a period of only 5 months, which was critical to meet the increasing demands of Rocket Lab’s Electron orbital and HASTE missions.

Casey McNulty
Solar Array Design Engineer III (Unit REA), Boeing

Casey McNulty completed 3 separate internships at Boeing while earning his Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University. After graduating, he joined Northrop Grumman as a Manufacturing/Test Engineer, where he was responsible for end-to-end production and test of Deployable Solar Arrays. Casey joined Boeing as a full-time employee in 2022, where he became the Responsible Manufacturing Authority for printed circuit board production, overseeing critical aspects of PCB manufacturing and ensuring strict adherence to quality standards. In his current role, he is the Responsible Engineering Authority (REA) for solar arrays. Casey manages the full lifecycle ownership over solar arrays, encompassing manufacturing, mechanisms, solar array electronics, harnessing and array integration. His oversight spans multiple Boeing sites, a variety of suppliers and a diverse international team.

Katina Mruk
Associate Director of Strategy and Transactions, RKF Engineering Solutions

Katina Mruk joined RKF Engineering Solutions as an analyst on the Regulatory team in 2021 after completing her Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics at SUNY Geneseo and her Masters of Business Administration at Northeastern University. She quickly advanced within the organization to her current position, in which she leads the RKF transaction practice, providing due diligence and spectrum valuation services to clients globally. Katina offers clients relevant insights and analyses that support strategic business moves and investment planning, enabling critical investment decisions and transactions to go forward. While working at RKF Engineering, Katina led two emerging space technology due diligence studies for investor clients that resulted in a combined $800 million investment to date. Her meticulous evaluation of current markets, determination of technology readiness and forecasting of potential business impacts were all key to the success of the two startup clients.

Megan Owen
Space Vehicle Systems Engineer, Stellar Solutions

Megan Owen began her career at the Astronauts Memorial Foundation, where she worked with the families of fallen astronauts. She moved on to the Space Foundation, where she worked in the Strategic and International Affairs department and participated in organizing the annual Space Symposium. Megan joined NASA’s White Sands Complex through Peraton in 2018 as a Project Schedule and Project Controls Analyst before advancing to Junior Systems Engineer. In this role, she supported NASA’s TDRS satellites and their ground stations while also beginning her Master’s degree in Systems Engineering at the University of Texas, El Paso. Megan went on to become a Department of Defense contractor through Boeing, where she took on mission planning, vehicle control and operations responsibilities as a Space Systems Engineer. She began her current role as Space Vehicle Systems Engineer at Stellar Solutions in 2022, where she provides technical insight for the integration of mission systems into the operational baseline, among other responsibilities.

Atilla Saadat
Spacecraft GNC Engineer, Turion Space Corp.

Atilla Saadat began his career at Turion Space Corp. in 2022 after completing his Master’s degree in Aerospace Science & Engineering at the University of Toronto. In his current role as the Lead Spacecraft GNC Engineer at Turion, he oversees a team of GNC experts, steering the hardware testing campaigns from inception to execution. Atilla has made significant improvements in automatic testing and analysis processes, enhancing efficiency and reliability in satellite operations. He created an innovative advanced Resident Space Object (RSO) tracking algorithm for Turion’s DROID.001 satellite, which not only tracks multiple space objects but also optimizes image quality through meticulous planning of imaging sequences and attitude commands. Atilla’s algorithm has dramatically augmented Turion’s capacity for space situational awareness.

Sam Arne Whalley
Business Development Proposal Writer, Isar Aerospace

Sam Arne Whalley’s career journey in the space and satellite industry began when he was elected as one of the youngest Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society at only 20 years old. Sam served as a Trainee in the “Foresight, Strategy and Coordination” department at the European Space Agency (ESA), where he contributed multiple strategic insights to the department’s initiatives. From the ESA, he went on to work as an Editor and Research Fellow at Rise to Peace and then as a Project Funding Coordinator at SwissLimbs. Sam joined constellr as an Operations Associate in 2022 and was promoted to Projects & Partnership Associate in 2023. At constellr, he spearheaded the highly competitive EU Commission DG-DEFIS Earth Observation “Market Feasibility Study,” acting as project manager and funding stream manager. His efforts led to securing millions of euros in funding for constellr’s constellation expansion. Sam recently joined Isar Aerospace as a Business Development Proposal Writer.

Bradley Williams
Acting Associate Director for Flight, Heliophysics Division, NASA Science Mission Directorate

Bradley Williams began his career in aerospace at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, where he served as a Project Manager and Systems Engineer collaborating with faculty and research teams to identify proposal opportunities and develop spaceflight proposals for NASA. He went on to serve as the Director of Civil Space Programs at Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems (now Terran Orbital Corporation, LLAP), a role in which he led the development of project/program management processes that prepared the company for trading on the New York Stock Exchange. In his current position at NASA, Brad has worked on significant projects such as the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), the Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS), the HelioSwarm mission and the Solar Cruiser solar sail technology project. He also serves as Senior Program Executive for the NASA Space Weather Program.