Speakers

Image

Dr. Tim Flohrer

Head of Space Debris Office, Space Safety Programme Office, Directorate of Operations, ESA

Tim Flohrer leads ESA's Space Debris Office since 2020. He joined the office as an engineer in 2007, and became analyst in 2009, senior analyst in 2018. Since 2014 he is working for ESA's Space Situational Awareness Program (SSA) and Space Safety Programme (S2P) and leads activities addressing the monitoring of space debris. In parallel he is supporting operational collision avoidance activities for ESA and third party missions, re-entry predictions, mitigation analyses, long-term predictions of the space debris environment, and space debris risk assessments. Before he moved to Darmstadt, Germany, Tim was a research associate at the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern, Switzerland, where he mainly worked on ground- and space-based optical space surveillance, and related planning and processing software. Tim is an ESA delegate to the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC), where he is chair to WG1 (measurements) and he was chair of WG2 (environment and database). Tim holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD; Dr. phil.-nat.) from the University of Bern, Switzerland, and a Diplom-Ingenieur in Geodesy from the Dresden University of Technology, Germany. Tim has been working on space debris and space surveillance topics for more than 22 years.

Image

Slobodan Danko Bosanac

President, Adriatic Aerospace Association

Prof. Bosanac graduated in Theoretical Physics from the University of Zagreb and obtained PhD degree from the university of Sussex, UK, when he was appointed research position at the R. Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia. The area of his research activity is atomic and molecular energy transfer and electromagnetic interactions, astrophysics, and recently electromagnetic propulsion technology. During research carrier Bosanac published around 100 papers, four books, was principal investigator in several international science projects and was actively involved in popularizing science by publishing and lecturing. He was visiting professor at several distinguished universities, and for his work received two Croatian State Prices in science, in 1997 and 2013. In 2017 Bosanac founded Adriatic Aerospace Association to promote Space programme for Croatia. Bosanac was also President of the Croatian Astronomical Society from 2008 - 2012. Outside of research Bosanac was active in projects that are related to promotion of science in Croatia and internationally by initiating in 1986 the interdisciplinary Brijuni conferences that continuously run until now.

Image

Heiner Klinkrad

Formerly head of ESA's Space Debris Office, Professor at the Braunschweig University of Technology (TUBS), Braunschweig

Fellow of AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics), full Member of IAA (International Academy of Astronautics), Honorary Member of IAASS (Int. Assoc. for the Advancement of Space Safety), Member of ESA delegation at IADC (Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee) and UNCOPUOS/STSC (Scientific & Technical Sub-Committee). Klinkrad was ESA visiting scientist in ESOC’s Flight Dynamics Division (1980-1983), Flight Dynamics Engineer for the ERS-1 Project at ESTEC (1983-1988), Senior Mission Analyst in ESOC’s Mission Analysis Office (1988-2005), Head of ESA's Space Debris Office (2006-2014), Appointment as “ESA Senior Advisor” on space debris in 2008. Author of the text book on “Space Debris” (2006), 250 publications, recipient of the “Joseph P. Loftus Space Sustainability Award” from the Int. Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS) in 2013, recipient of the “Distinguished Service Award” from the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) in 2015, recipient of two “ESA Team Awards” in 2013 and 2014.

Image

Ognjan Božić

German Aerospace Center

Prof.Dr.Sc. Ognjan Božić worked for The German Aerospace Center as a research scientist for 19 years. Research was focused on solid and hybrid rocket engines, aerothermodynamics, rocket propulsion, space system concepts etc.

Image

Heinz Stoewer

Founder of Space Associates GmbH

Stoewer was the European Space Agency’s (ESA) first program Manager for the Spacelab project, where he created a strong systems group. Stoewer also founded the ESA’s Systems Engineering and Programmatics Department, where he implemented an end-to-end systems engineering philosophy across ESA projects. He served as managing director of the German Space Agency’s national space science and applications projects.

Image

Carsten Scharlemann

Head of Deparment, Aerospace Engineering, University of Applied Sciences

Lectures Space Mission Analysis and Design, Space Propulsion, Master Thesis Seminar at University of Applied Sciences in Austria. He is also advisor to students in Projects and Master Theses. Field of specialization: Space Propulsion.

Image

Yi Li

SCHOOL OF ASTRONAUTICS, NORTHWESTERN POLYTECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, XIAN, CHINA

Yi Li is an Associate Professor and Assistant Dean at the School of Astronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, China. His research group works on sounding rockets and aerodynamics related to spacecraft. He also works on space education. In 2017, he founded the first students’ club of sounding rocket in China. He is also a division director of Shaanxi Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics. From 2009 to 2014, he worked as a PhD student at German Aerospace Center and received the doctoral degree from Technical University Braunschweig in 2015.

Image

Guenter W. Hein

Professor Emeritus of Excellence of University FAF Munich

Guenter W. Hein is Professor Emeritus of Excellence of University FAF Munich. He was ESA Head of EGNOS & GNSS Evolution Programme Dept. 2008-2014, in charge of development of 2nd generation of EGNOS and Galileo. Prof. Hein has more than 300 scientific and technical papers published, carried out more than 200 research projects and educated more than 70 Ph. D.´s. He received 2002 the prestigious Johannes Kepler Award for „sustained and significant contributions to satellite navigation” of the US Institute of Navigation (ION), the highest worldwide award in navigation given only to one individual each year. G. Hein became 2011 a Fellow of US ION. The Technical University of Prague honoured his achievements in satellite navigation with a Doctor honoris causa in Jan. 2013. He is Chairman of the Executive Board of Munich Aerospace.

Image

Pete Worden

Executive Director, Breakthrough Starshot

Prior to joining the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, Dr. Worden was Director of NASA's Ames Research Center. He was research professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona. He is a recognized expert on space and science issues and has been a leader in building partnerships between governments and the private sector internationally. Dr. Worden has authored or co-authored more than 150 scientific papers in astrophysics and space sciences. He served as a scientific co-investigator for three NASA space science missions – most recently the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph launched in 2013 to study the Sun. He received the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal for the 1994 Clementine Mission to the moon. Dr. Worden was named the 2009 Federal Laboratory Consortium 'Laboratory Director of the Year' and is the recipient of the 2010 Arthur C. Clarke Innovator's Award.

Image

Gongling Sun

Professor at the International Space University

Sun was a founding member of China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) in 1993 and worked as General Designer Assistant for China Manned Space Program (CMSP) for 8 years. After the maiden flight of Shenzhou spaceship, Sun moved to Munich and worked as Managing Director of EurasSpace GmbH, a company of EADS and China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) for more than 8 years. The joint-venture company was a primary contractor of Sino-European space business. After managing this office he founded CASC European Office based in Paris, and served as Chief Representative in the office for 7 years. Sun was involved in most of the joint programs between China and European in this period, including the satellite launch services for Eutelsat W3C, telecommunication satellite procurements or joint manufacture from/with European satellite manufacturers, and several joint satellite programs with ESA and CNES based on bilateral government agreements. Mr. Sun is the author of a number of scholarly papers, presentations, articles and book contributions.

Image

Alessandro Golkar

Professor, Chair of Pico-, Nanosatellites, and Satellite Constellations, Technical University of Munich (TUM)

Alessandro Golkar is Full Professor at the Technical University of Munich, Chair of Pico-, Nanosatellites, and Satellite Constellations. His research interests are in systems engineering and in the development of novel mission concepts of spacecraft systems, with particular interest in nanosatellites and satellite constellation systems. Prof. Golkar served as co-PI of the FSSCAT CubeSat mission, a satellite mission sponsored by ESA, 1st Prize Winner of the ESA Sentinel Small Satellite Challenge, and Overall Winner of the 2017 Copernicus Masters. From 2012 to 2022, Prof. Golkar was among the founding faculty members of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) in Moscow, Russia, a new research university founded in collaboration with MIT. From 2017 to 2019 Prof. Golkar took a sabbatical leave from academia and joined Airbus as Vice President of the Technology Planning and Roadmapping unit of the Corporate Technology Office at group level, in charge of creating the Airbus Concurrent Design Facility and running roadmapping studies for the steering of the overall group R&T budget of 800 MEUR per year. Professor Golkar holds a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. He serves as Associate Editor of the INCOSE Systems Engineering journal.

Image

Aaron Knoll

DEPARTMENT OF AERONAUTICS, IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON

Aaron Knoll is head of the Imperial Plasma Propulsion Laboratory (IPPL) within the Aeronautics Department at Imperial College London. From 2013 to 2017, Aaron led the Plasma Propulsion research group at the Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey. His research looks at alternative propellants for spacecraft electric propulsion, innovative MEMS based electrolysis micro-propulsion for CubeSats and SmallSats and hybrid electric + chemical propulsion architectures for future space exploration.

Image

Željko Ivezić

Professor, University of Washington, Department of Astronomy, Seattle

Željko Ivezić obtained undergraduate degrees in mechanical engineering and physics from the University of Zagreb, Croatia, and his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Kentucky in 1995. After working on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) at Princeton University, he took a professorship in astronomy at the University of Washington in 2004. Željko's scientific interests are in detection, analysis, and interpretation of electromagnetic radiation from astronomical sources, with emphasis on data mining and machine learning methods. He has co-authored over 300 refereed publications, with a cumulative citation count of over 100,000. His current obsession is the Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), for which he served as the Project Scientist for well over a decade, and he is now serving as the Director of the Rubin Construction project. In many ways similar to SDSS, which provided to us the first large digital color snapshot of the faint optical sky, LSST will deliver a digital color movie of the night sky by collecting about 60,000,000 GB (or 60 PB) of astronomical imaging data.

Image

Martin Quack

LABORATORY FOR PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY, ETH ZURICH

Martin Quack is professor of physical chemistry at ETH Zürich, His research group investigates the quantum dynamics and kinetics of molecules both theoretically and experimentally, with special emphasis on the dynamics of tunneling and parity violation (due to the electroweak interaction of the standard model) in chiral molecules. He has been elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society, Member of the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as a corresponding member of Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities. From 2002 to 2011 he had been member of the National Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation. In 2014 he was elected as member of the presidium of the German Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina

Image

Hrvoje Buljan

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS, FACULTY OF SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB

Hrvoje Buljan received a MSc degree in physics from the University of Zagreb in 1997 and defended his PhD thesis at the same university in 2002. In the period from 2002-2004 he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. His research at the time was focused on nonlinear optical phenomena such as incoherent solitons. After the postdoc period he moved back to the University of Zagreb as an Assistant Professor and formed his group with diverse activities including photonics, condensed-matter systems, quantum gases. HB authored and co-authored more than 88 publications in peer reviewed journals with ~4300 citations in Web of Science. HB was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor of Physics at the University of Zagreb in 2009, and to the rank of Full Professor in 2013. He received the Annual Croatian State Award for Science in 2010, the Andrija Mohorovičić award in 2019, and the Croatian Academy of Sciences award in 2023. He mentored 7 PhD theses and more than 40 diploma theses. HB is the PI on several research projects including the Scientific Center of Excellence for Quantum and Complex Systems including 80 scientists from 9 Croatian public institutions and 5 MEUR from EU Regional and Development Fund (2015-2025). At the Brijuni conference, he will present applications of his work in space technologies.

Image

Daniel Stelzl

Head of Department - Deployable Sails and Nanosatellites, High Performance Space Structure Systems GmbH, München