Space Explr

Egbert is passionate about accelerating space life science research, helping humanity beyond the next frontier by becoming a multi-planetary species. His interest in space exploration accelerated shortly after he became a sperm donor in 2010 and learned all about ART (assisted reproductive technology). This inspired him to explore options to re-engineer existing IVF technology for application in space. He earned his Ph.D. in Courage development in organizations, connecting the domains of Biology, Neurology, and Psychology. I enjoy innovating and exploring boundaries by connecting domains that usually remain separated.

Antonio Stark is an international business developer and a space policy consultant currently based out of South Korea. He currently works as the Asia-Pacific Regional Partnerships Manager at Space Generation Advisory Council, connecting government and industry actors in the region and beyond.

Prachi Kawade is a Senior Research Analyst in Space at Frost & Sullivan, where she leads the development of Innovation Generator for Space: An Interactive Data Intelligence Platform that covers the complete space ecosystem with market forecasts across upstream and downstream segments. She has worked on multiple custom consulting assignments for commercial organizations and government space agencies and is an author of multiple reports on the Launch Services market, Space Ecosystem, Satellite-based IoT markets. Prior to Frost, she held the position of business development team lead at AMSI Technologies. She has completed her Masters in Space Studies from International Space University (ISU) and Bachelor of Aeronautical Engineering from MVJ College of Engineering.

Mr. George Salazar received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Houston and his Masters of Science in Systems Engineering from Southern Methodist University. He has over 38 years of experience in telemetry, communications, speech control, command and data handling, audio, displays and controls, intelligent lighting, project management, and systems engineering. He has been involved with the design of advanced telemetry, speech recognition, and intelligent systems of which he has received various patents. He is currently serving at NASA’s Johnson Space Center as the Human-Computer Interface Technical Discipline Lead to develop advanced human interfaces as well as serving as the Displays and Controls Subsystem Manager for the Commercial Crew Program. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas. Also, he has Expert Systems Engineer Professional certification through the International Council on Systems Engineering. He is also the co-founder of the NASA/JSC Human Systems Integration (HSI) Employee Resource Group with the key goal of infusing HSI into the NASA development process. He enjoys reading, scuba diving, woodworking, leatherworking, and speaking to students about his journey to NASA and real-world engineering.

Trent's focused on bridging the gap between traditional aerospace and new-age innovation. Starting his career in aeronautics with ASET Dive into Space, he developed underwater Neutral Buoyancy education programs. While then working on more in-depth commercial astronautics training he began to build the next generation of accessible pressure suits and life support systems with Smith Aerospace Garments. These endeavors further led him to high altitude manned balloon flight tests and oversight of pressure suit operations. He has since co-authored and published in Purdue’s peer-review journal, Human Performance in Extreme Environments, and presented on numerous occasions regarding low-cost life support systems for exploration and training. He currently resides in Tucson Arizona helping develop the world's highest fidelity hermetically sealed research habitat, SAM (Space Analog for the Moon and Mars), at the University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2.

Chris Welch is Professor of Space Engineering, Head of the Space Payloads Laboratory, and Director of the MSc in Space Studies at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. Chris is a Fellow and President-Elect of the British Interplanetary Society and former Vice-President of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, and a Fellow the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Royal Astronomical Society. He also sits on the board of the World Space Week Association and the Aluna Foundation and is an advisor to Space Hero, the Moon Village Association, and the Initiative for Interstellar Studies. Although technically a physicist-turned-engineer, Chris sees himself more as a ‘spaceist’, interested in all aspects of space. His main research interests are in space systems and space exploration, the latter from an interdisciplinary perspective. He has a significant track record in both space education and outreach and higher education, receiving the 2009 Sir Arthur Clarke Award for Space Education. Chris was in the final twenty-five finalists for the 1991 Juno mission to the Russian Mir space station and still hopes to get to space eventually. He has written what he believes to be the first-ever paper on the design of extraterrestrial gardens and has a poem on the International Space Station.

Robert Zubrin is an American aerospace engineer and author, best known for his advocacy of human exploration of Mars with his Mars Society Organization. He and his colleague at Martin Marietta, David Baker, were the driving force behind Mars Direct, a proposal in a 1990 research paper intended to produce significant reductions in the cost and complexity of such a mission. Robert established the Mars Society in 1998. This is an international organization advocating a human mission to Mars as a goal.

Sweta Alla is an aspiring astronaut starting college this fall as an aerospace engineering major at the University of Colorado Boulder. She and two friends (Madison Lin and Isabella Alejandro) met during a virtual NASA internship last summer. With the support of Nu School, they decided to launch Edu4Space, a platform to show youth how they can get involved in space today. In her free time, Sweta enjoys flying planes and meeting students and professionals in the space industry.

David LeFrancois is the President and Operations Manager of the Beyond Blue Aerospace Corporation. David has been a licensed pilot since 1991 and holds a commercial pilot license to fly single and multi-engine aircraft. He is an electromechanical engineering technician, a computer scientist, a Professional Engineer, and holds several patents. David received a Master of Science degree in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota's School of Aerospace Sciences and is a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association and the Canadian Association of Rocketry.

Steve Richards is an Astrophotographer based in West Sussex, England, specializing in deep-sky imaging in narrowband from his fully automated observatory. As well as producing his own images for pleasure, Steve has written two books on the subject, ‘Making Every Photon Count’ (A Beginner’s Guide To Deep Sky Astrophotography) and ‘Dark Art or Magic Bullet?’ (A Beginner’s Guide To Deep Sky Image Processing). Steve is a regular contributor of technical articles and equipment reviews in the Sky at Night Magazine and has a monthly column called ‘Scope Doctor’ as well as giving talks to astronomy societies, camera clubs, and schools. When he isn’t doing astronomy he can be found in his music studio producing ‘Trance’ and experimental electronic music or driving the Westfield sports car that he built himself from scratch.