Meet the Future of the Industry TODAY
Daniel Alvarez, Space Mission Program Manager, Millennium Space Systems, A Boeing Company
At the age of 31, Dan has served and excelled in many roles since joining the Boeing Company. As a Mechanical Design Engineer, he was a key designer of Boeing’s Modular Reflector, which significantly reduced the cost of a reflector and is now baselined on all of Boeing’s largest commercial satellites. Dan’s current role at Millennium Space Systems is as a Space Mission Program Manager, where he is leading one of Millennium’s flagship programs. He was responsible for the first-ever implementation of an Earned Value Management System and Integrated Baseline Review at Millennium, and successfully led a competitive proposal effort to win the first two production Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity delivery orders to build up the follow-on operational constellation. Read more here
Julian Horvath, Principal Engineer, Satellite Operations and Ground Development, Iridium
Julian began his career as a Systems Engineer at General Dynamics after receiving his Bachelor of Science in Space Physics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. In his next position at Orbital Sciences Corporation, he led the systems engineering effort to design and implement an on-orbit data storage solution for all on-orbit vehicles, for which he received an award from the company. Julian joined Iridium in 2012 and was the youngest employee ever at the company to be promoted to Principal Engineer. In this position, Julian was tasked with leading the launch preparation, on-orbit testing, operational checkout and mission activation for Iridium NEXT, one of the largest constellations of commercial satellites ever launched. Read more here
Natalia Larrea Brito, Senior Affiliate Consultant, Euroconsult
Natalia completed a Master’s in Aerospace Engineering from McGill University (Montreal, Canada) and a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Telecommunications Engineering from Universidad Alfonso X El Sabio (Madrid, Spain). She also holds a Diploma in Astronomy and Planetary Science from the Open University UK and is a graduate of the International Space University (ISU) SSP14 program, for which she received SSPI’s International Scholarship that year. In her current role at Euroconsult, she manages research activities and consulting missions for government and private organizations in the space sector. She focuses on the assessment of government programs, new technologies and the strategic analysis of industrial and commercial space markets with special focus on space exploration. She supports and advises established and developing space players, assessing new satellite programs, defining new space policies and conducting socio-economic studies. Read more here
Chris Beauregard, Policy Advisor, National Space Council
Chris became a policy analyst for the White House National Space Council in September 2018 while completing his Masters in International Science and Technology Policy at George Washington University. In his current role as policy advisor, he supports the office’s priorities in the civil, commercial and national security space sectors. Chris is the lead for several initiatives, including workforce and acquisition reform at NASA, space commercialization strategy, education and outreach, planetary protection, planetary defense, and establishing measures to protect and grow the U.S. space industrial base. While studying at George Washington University, he served as a staff assistant at the university’s Space Policy Institute and was active in the GW Space Society and the GW CubeSat program, where he was an advisor for regulatory compliance. Read more here
Gaurav Bhatia, Principal Engineer, Hughes Network Systems
Gaurav joined the technical staff at Hughes Network Systems in 2008 after completing a Masters in Electrical Engineering at Villanova University. He quickly advanced to the position of Principal Engineer, making him responsible for design and development of state-of-the-art satellite communications modem products. Since joining Hughes, Gaurav has made a number of engineering contributions to the JUPITER System product line in the areas of digital communications, forward error correction coding and digital signal processing. The current generation of JUPITER System satellite modems feature several of Gaurav’s technical advances, including the TDMA demodulator family of products for QPSK, 8PSK and 16APSK modulations. He developed the advanced Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) forward error correcting (FEC) code designs for Hughes modem products that utilize the ETSI IPOS and DVB-S2X standards. Read more here
Dr. Nikita Chiu, Ad Astra Distinguished Fellow in Robotic and Outer Space Governance, Space Engineering Research Center
Nikita began her career in technology governance with a business degree in Technology Policy from the University of Cambridge, after having previously taught Foreign Policy and Global Governance upon completion of her Ph.D. in International Relations from The Graduate Institute in Geneva. She worked as the Research Fellow in Robotics and Space Technologies at the University of Oxford and was an Affiliate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge. While at Oxford, Nikita led the Robotics and Outer Space Governance programs and developed new approaches to engaging the diplomatic circle, governments, industry and academia to produce timely governance advice for both national and international actors. She currently advises on Robotic and Outer Space Governance at the Space Engineering Research Center. Read more here
Ryan Clulo, Freedom Software Engineer, ATLAS Space Operations
Ryan began his career at ATLAS Space Operations as a Software Engineer in 2018, taking on responsibilities from building software interfaces and assembling antenna systems to RF ground site design. He was integral in the development of the Freedom Platform, ATLAS’ global ground antenna network and software architecture. Ryan’s responsibilities as a Freedom Software Engineer also include communication of site status to customers, developing and documenting procedures and designing notification systems. In February of 2019, he was selected to participate in the Catalyst Space Accelerator’s Resilient Space Communications Cohort--sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory—with the goal of developing dual use technologies to solve Air Force problems in partnership with independent private solutions. Ryan used his time in the program to meet with commercial and government stakeholders to gain feedback on the Freedom Platform. Read more here
Lindsay Crossan, O3b Requirements & Verification Systems Engineering Lead, The Boeing Company
Lindsay began her career at Boeing Satellite Systems in 2014 as a Spacecraft Systems Engineer for the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite program (TDRS) after completing a Masters of Engineering in Systems Engineering and a Bachelors of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology. While studying at Stevens, she completed five co-ops at aerospace companies, including SpaceX, NASA, MIT Lincoln Laboratory and Hamilton Sundstrand. As part of the TDRS team, Lindsay led a critical path re-design effort, implemented a photogrammetry system for significant spacecraft integration and test savings and performed systems engineering support. Her work on the photogrammetry system led to significant program cost reduction, as it reduced critical path antenna furling time from two weeks to only five hours. Read more here
Dr. Ashwati Das, Systems Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Ashwati joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a Systems Engineer after completing her Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University with a dissertation on fusing the exploration of complex astrodynamical regimes with machine learning and artificial intelligence approaches. Such approaches could lead to greater operations efficiency, improved mission resiliency and mission-enabling trajectory designs. During her time as a graduate student in the Multi-Body Dynamics group at Purdue, she conducted research on the application of machine learning techniques to the design of transfer trajectories and recovery operations in the Earth-Moon system. During the course of her graduate career, she also provided trajectory analysis for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Orbital ATK. Ashwati also led student-driven concept development as the Principal Investigator of a Trojan asteroid rendezvous mission study at Purdue, and as the Mission Design Chair for NASA JPL’s 2016 Planetary Science Summer School. Read more here
Clémentine Decoopman, Executive Director, Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC)
Clémentine began her career working in onboarding and marketing at Airbus Helicopters after completing her Masters in International Business at Kedge Business School in Marseille (France) and her Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing at San Diego State University in San Diego (USA). From Airbus Helicopters, she went on to work as a marketing and events planner at Arianespace Inc. in Washington DC (USA). Clémentine became Executive Director of the Space Generation Advisory Council in support of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications in June 2017. SGAC is a non-governmental, non-profit organization and network of more than 15 000 members which aims to represent university students and young space professionals ages 18-35 to the United Nations, space agencies, industry and academia. Her responsibilities include managing day-to-day operations for the organization, where she leads a team of over fifty active volunteer members. Read more here
Guillermo Del Rio, Infrastructure Coordinator, Elara Comunicaciones
Guillermo began his career at Elara Comunicaciones in 2013 as a Teleport Engineer. As his interest in satellite developed, he moved on to the position of Satellite Platform Engineer and then Satellite Platform Specialist, a position in which he worked on configuring and maintaining new satellite hubs and networks, as well as analyzing use of satellite bandwidth. Guillermo took on the position of Infrastructure Coordinator in 2017, extending his responsibilities to LAN platform, monitoring and RF & facilities projects. He distinguished himself early on in his career at Elara by handling one of the company’s most successful projects to date: installing 3,000 remotes for the Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes, a Mexican government division focused on bringing connectivity to remote and rural communities. Guillermo was instrumental in keeping the project running without delays, leading to roughly 200% growth in Elara’s total number of operational VSATs. Read more here
Isil Demir, Director, Mission Systems, Planet Labs Inc.
Isil began her career as a software engineer at a startup in Istanbul, where she built geospatial web applications. She pursued a Masters of Science in Software Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Silicon Valley in 2013, during which she collaborated with NASA Ames engineers to develop an electronic field notebook application for astronauts and scientists. Upon graduating in 2014, Isil joined Planet as a DevOps Engineer. She worked on Planet’s Missions Software team to build the software infrastructure and platform to fully automate operations of the largest Earth-imaging constellation of satellites in the world. The software she and her team are developing is at the heart of Planet’s Agile Aerospace approach and is absolutely integral to the constellation’s functioning with minimum-to-no human supervision. She became Director of Mission Systems in 2019. When Planet acquired Terra Bella in 2016, Isil began working on fully integrating SkySats into Planet’s satellite operations. Read more here
Sajit Jumani, Vice President, Business Development and Finance, GEOshare
Sajit began his career in the Lockheed Martin Operations Leadership Development Program after completing a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech and a Masters in Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech. In Lockheed Martin’s program, he completed rotations in manufacturing, sustainment, quality, sourcing and international business development, honing a wide variety of skills. After graduating from the program, Sajit completed his MBA at UNC Chapel Hill and led the development of international strategy for Lockheed Martin Space before joining GEOshare as a Manager. He rose to a position of Director and then Vice President of Business Development and Finance in only three years of working at GEOshare, taking on responsibility for eighteen major customers. Sajit’s professional responsibilities include managing customer relationships, collaborating directly with customers on requirements, and providing financial options that suit the customers’ business needs. Read more here
Jomya Lei, Lead Payload Systems Engineer, The Boeing Company
Jomya began her career at Boeing in 2013 as a Systems Engineer. Her responsibilities include interfacing with customers, suppliers, cross-functional team members and senior leadership to execute on the project spanning the entire lifecycle: negotiating low-level designs, managing system risks/opportunities, product manufacturing and specification validation/verification. Jomya was an instrumental member of the team that negotiated Boeing’s Kacific partnership and joined the program team once it was secured. She currently serves as Lead Payload Systems Engineer on the Kacific-1 and JCSAT-18 programs, which aim to provide affordable broadband communications to Japan and countries in the Pacific and Southeast Asia. The programs’ payloads are new complex High Throughput Satellite designs that will greatly increase capacity and enable low-cost bandwidth to end users. As the Lead Payload Engineer, Jomya works directly with the SKY Perfect JSAT and Kacific customers on a variety of design, performance and analysis responsibilities. Read more here
Joao Lousada, ISS Columbus Flight Director, GMV Insyen AG
Over a three-year career at GMV Insyen AG, Joao has worked as a constant advocate and mentor to local youth and the community at large. He currently serves as a Flight Director for Columbus, the European module of the International Space Station, making him responsible for planning and operations of the module, as well as the safety of astronauts on board. Joao works with the astronauts on a daily basis, providing support for their endeavors in human physiology and material science studies in space. He also served as increment lead during the ISS Increments 58 and 59. Joao frequently organizes and executes tours of the Columbus Control Centre for young people and the local community to give the public a better understanding of his company’s work with ISS. Joao is also actively involved with the Austrian Space Forum, where he serves as an analog astronaut and commander for Mars analog missions. Read more here
Andrea Marin, Principal Business Solutions Engineer, Intelsat
Andrea began her career at ATDI after completing a Bachelors of Science in Telecommunications Engineering and postgraduate qualification in Strategic Telecoms Management. She served in a variety of roles during her seven years at ATDI, including RF consultancy, software development and project engineering, with a focus on communications and spectrum management projects. In her time with ADTI, Andrea delivered a powerful and comprehensive web-based spectrum management solution for the Argentine Spectrum Regulator (Enacom) for use in domestic and international regulatory applications, as well as supporting similar projects with other spectrum regulators in Latin America such as Anatel (Brazil), MinTIC (Colombia), IFT (Mexico) and others. Andrea joined Intelsat as a Principal Business Solutions Engineer near the end of 2017, where she provides subject-matter expertise and broad solutions design and support for key departments. Read more here
Adam Milewich, Satellite Engineer, Innovation Team, Intelsat
Adam began his career at Intelsat as an intern while finishing his Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering at Purdue University. Upon graduation, he joined the Intelsat Innovation team as an Associate Engineer and was promoted to the position of Engineer within one year. Adam has been instrumental in several key transmission engineering advances by making improvements to current modes and processes and performing analysis for future spacecraft. He was responsible for integrating Intelsat’s EpicNG satellites 37e and Horizons 3e into the company’s transmission tools systems, a task that required coordination with spacecraft manufacturers, collecting and reviewing a large amount of measured payload data, implementing new data models and testing and validating the model with an in-orbit test. Adam also worked on identifying a new efficient and fast approach to conducting Intelsat EpicNG analysis for future services using a method that relies on data analytics of the current loading of beams to respond to future pre-commit opportunities. Read more here
Abiodun Ogunbiyi, President, CEO, Founder and Engineer, Aerospace Palace International
Abiodun is an American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics Educator Associate, a motivational speaker, Space Foundation Teacher Liaison Officer, Queen Elizabeth Engineering Ambassador, a member of the European Space Board and researcher with a degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Ibadan. Early in his career, he introduced SMS Pro Aviation safety management into the Nigerian aerospace market. An integrated solution that facilitates aviation operations, SMS Pro Aviation allows for easy, real-time report generation, automated alerts and improved transparency throughout the market. Abiodun founded Aerospace Palace International Nigeria, Aerospace Palace Academy Nigeria and an online Aerospace Radio Nigeria to promote aerospace and STEM education among youths in Nigeria, to provide job opportunities and raise quality future leaders in the aerospace industry. Read more here
Manny Shar, Head of Analytics, Bryce Space & Technology, Ltd.
Manny has served as an analyst for a wide variety of organizations, including Barclays, Goldman Sachs, and Inmarsat, after obtaining his Bachelors in Computer Science from the University of Kent and his Masters in Space Studies from the International Space University. In 2018, Manny became Head of Analytics at Bryce Space & Technology, where he leads consulting engagements for government and commercial clients. He has worked on innovative projects in many areas, including early stage investment appraisal, analysis of multi-billion-dollar assets, carrying out cross-functional strategic business development activities and commercial model development in the satellite communications sector. He has played a crucial role in building up Bryce as a serious revenue-generating business in Europe, chiefly through growing the company’s client base by delivering projects with expert guidance and business analytics to a variety of clients throughout the space industry. Read more here
Jeremy Turpin, CTO & Co-Founder, Isotropic Systems
Jeremy began his career as the president and founder of E x H, Inc., after completing a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, specializing in electromagnetics, from Pennsylvania State University. As president and founder, he was responsible for software development and commercialization of the ray-tracing software package for modelling, design and optimization of inhomogenous optical devices. Jeremy successfully proposed and received funding from DARPA and JNLWD for development of software and hardware in concert with Penn State and acquired and executed the contract for the DARPA EXTREME program while at E x H. He became a co-founder of Isotropic Systems after recruiting a CEO for E x H and took on the role of Chief Technology Officer, a position in which he leads the company’s Lens Array Antenna product development activities. Jeremy is responsible for all of Isotropic’s engineering activities, recruiting, IP protection and patent filings. Read more here
