Ilan Ramon International Space Conference - 2023

Isaac Herzog is the 11th President of the State of Israel.

Isaac Herzog was born in Tel Aviv in 1960, the son of Israel's sixth president, Chaim Herzog, and Aura Herzog (née Ambache), the founder of the Council for a Beautiful Israel. His paternal grandfather was Israel's first chief rabbi, Rabbi Yitzhak Isaac HaLevi Herzog. Herzog spent his adolescent years in New York when his father served as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, and he later served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces' elite 8200 Unit, concluding his service at the rank of major. After graduating from Tel Aviv University, Herzog was admitted to the Israeli Bar Association and worked as a senior partner in one of Israel's leading law firms.

Before his election in July 2021 as the 11th President of Israel, Herzog served for fifteen years in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, during which he held several ministerial and parliamentary posts, including Leader of the Opposition.

After serving as Government Secretary under Prime Minister Ehud Barak (1999-2001), Herzog was elected to the 16th Knesset in 2003 on the Labor Party slate and entered the Government as the Minister of Construction and Housing in 2005. He was re-elected to the 17th Knesset in 2006 and served as Minister of Tourism and later Minister of Diaspora, Society, and the Fight Against Antisemitism in addition to Minister of Welfare and Social Services, a position that he retained when he was re-elected to the 18th Knesset in 2009, until Labor left the coalition in 2011.

During the 19th Knesset, in 2013, Herzog was elected Chairman of the Israeli Labor Party, becoming the Leader of the Opposition. Two years later, he led the alliance between Labor and HaTnuah to form Israel's largest center-left political party, the Zionist Union, making him a leading candidate for prime minister during the 2015 elections. He served as Leader of the Opposition in the 20th Knesset until 2018.

In June 2018, Herzog was elected Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), the historic organization that laid the foundations of the State of Israel, and the largest Jewish non-profit in the world. In this capacity, he led the process of restructuring the organization, which reinvigorated it, reaffirmed its prominence within world Jewry, and solidified the Jewish Agency's status as a bridge between Jewish communities worldwide and the State of Israel.

Isaac Herzog was sworn in as the 11th President of the State of Israel on 7 July 2021, succeeding President Reuven Rivlin, following an overwhelming and historic majority vote in the Knesset. In his inaugural speech, he pledged to be a "president for all" and to embark on a "journey between the fault lines of Israeli society" in an effort to unite Israel's diverse communities and encourage civil political discourse. Since entering the presidency, Herzog has visited dozens of diverse communities from all religious and ethnic backgrounds around Israel, in a bid to foster national unity.

As president, Isaac Herzog has taken on a prominent role in Israel's international diplomacy, maintaining a close relationship with global leaders. In this context, he has conducted a number of major international engagements, including historic visits to Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan, and a keynote speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Herzog has named the battle against climate change as one of his priorities as president, and in his "Renewable Middle East" speech, he spelled out his vision for regional cooperation against the climate emergency, with an emphasis on the export of clean energy. Herzog also established the Israeli Climate Forum, under the auspices of his office, to bring together private and public sector actors to define concrete proposals for Israel to take a lead on environmental policies.

President Herzog is married to Michal, also a lawyer by profession with many years' experience in the world of philanthropy, and they have three sons.

Ofir Akunis has served in many public positions. From 1996 to 1999, he served as Deputy Spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He then went on to become Spokesperson of the Likud Party, a position he held until 2008. Akunis was elected to the Knesset in 2009 and has since served as a Member of Knesset for the Likud faction. He served as Deputy Speaker of Knesset, Chair of the Knesset Economics Committee, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection. He also was in charge of the Broadcasting Authority, as Chair of the 'Computer for Every Child' project, and as a Member of the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee. As part of his parliamentary work, he led several socio-economic laws, including Cellular Reform; abolition of fines for exiting broadcasters ('Yes' and 'Hot'); compelling public bodies to purchase Israeli flags made in the country. He also passed the amendment to the traffic ordinance that allows parking at bus stops on Saturdays and weekends, was one of the initiators of the "Boycott Law" that fights boycott attempts on Israel, and the Affirmative Action Law for Ethiopian immigrants in public service. As Minister of Science and Technology, he led a number of significant reforms aimed at making science, technology, robotics, and cyber accessible to all Israeli citizens, especially in the periphery. In that role, he signed close to 30 international agreements designed to strengthen ties between Israel and other countries around the world in the field of science and technology, including new agreements with: India, China, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Greece, and Cyprus. In May 2018, and in honor of the 70th anniversary of the State of Israel, Akunis led a large-scale conference in Jerusalem. The event was attended by about 30 delegations led by science ministers and deputies from their countries, who acknowledged Israel as a leading power of science and technology. In 2019, Akunis oversaw the Beresheet Mission to the Moon, together with SpaceIL and NASA. As Minister of Labor and Social Welfare in 2020, he managed the Ministry's operations during the COVID-19 crisis. The highlight was providing over one million servings of food to the elderly population all over the country through a unique food distribution campaign called the "Food Security Project." The decision of continuing the food project, as well as the advancement of the government's decision regarding the temporary leave of workers during and after the quarantine period, was made with accordance to the National Insurance Institute's proposal. From 2020-2021, Ofir Akunis served as Minister of Regional Cooperation, during which Israel signed the Abraham Accords peace treaties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, Kosovo and Morocco. At the initiative of Akunis, the Ministry sent the first-ever municipal delegation of Jewish and Arab Israeli mayors to visit the UAE, at the invitation of Emirati Minister of International Cooperation Reem Al Hashimy. Similarly, Akunis invited and hosted the first-ever Ministerial delegation from Bahrain, led by Minister Zayed Alzayani, which visited both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Akunis also proposed a program for Israeli to train Sudanese people in areas of agritech. He also oversaw cooperation in corona vaccine data sharing with Morocco. In June 2021, Akunis established the Abraham Accords Caucus in the Knesset, the first-ever caucus of its kind, which was since replicated in parliaments worldwide. The caucus launch ceremony in the Knesset was attended by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other dignitaries. In December 2022, Akunis was re-appointed Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology. He is married to Adi and is father to Yonatan and Roni. They live in Tel Aviv.

Her Excellency Sarah bint Yousef Al Amiri is the UAE Minister of State for Advanced Technology and Chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency. In her role as Minister of State for Advanced Technology, her Excellency spearheads the UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology’s efforts to empower the adoption of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and promote research and development in the advanced science and technology sector, in order to create new industries that drive the shift towards a knowledge economy. This, in turn, contributes to the overall mandate of the Ministry to strengthen the UAE’s industrial base, ensure in-country value, and raise the competitiveness of local industries. As Chairwoman of the Space Agency, Her Excellency is responsible to oversee the Agency’s mandate of guiding the space sector, ensuring its contribution to the national economy and to the UAE’s sustainable development. Her Excellency is also the Chairwoman of the Emirates Scientists Council, Chairwoman of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Council, Chairwoman of the Dubai Future Academy Board of Trustees, and she served as the Deputy Project Manager and Science Lead of the Emirates Mars Mission (Hope) at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) before going on to be appointed Chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency. Previously, Her Excellency was the Head of R&D at MBRSC, where she established the Centre’s knowledge management, strategic research and product assurance functionalities. She was also involved in DubaiSat-1 and DubaiSat-2, and in the establishment of the KhalifaSat program. In 2014, Her Excellency was tasked with and led the establishment of the Advanced Aerial Systems Program, where she championed development efforts on a prototype High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite. The project resulted in a successful 24-hour flight of the unmanned vehicle, which recorded the highest altitude of any aircraft over UAE airspace. In 2015, the World Economic Forum honoured Her Excellency as one of its 50 Young Scientists for her contributions to science, technology and engineering. H.E. Sarah Al Amiri holds a Bachelor's and a Master’s degree in Computer Engineering from the American University of Sharjah.

Aaron Prat is an infrastructure engineer with an impressive career starting in the Israeli intelligence unit. He has led the communication stack of Uber’s autonomous vehicle project. And now, as the CEO of Tehiru, Aaron’s mission is to provide faster, affordable, and green access to orbit.

Ami Daniel is co-founder and CEO of Windward. In this capacity he has been featured extensively as an expert in shipping and AI at multiple conferences, events, op-eds and interviews including by The Economist, The FT, WSJ, Bloomberg and many others. He was recognised as one of the 40 most promising entrepreneurs in Israel twice by Israel’s leading economical newspapers – Globes and The Marker. Under his leadership Windward has been awarded multiple awards including as a finalist in the Boldness in Business Awards by the FT, Red Herring, The Hottest Startup in Israel by Wired and many others. Before founding Windward, Ami has been one of Israel’s most impactful youth social entrepreneurs, founding a community center in Haifa when he was 16, as well as another national scale social empowerment program. For these he was given multiple awards including the President’s Award and the Ramon Award (both the most distinguished for youth in Israel). Ami served as a naval officer (Lieutenant) in the Israeli Navy and he holds an LLB from Tel Aviv University.

Baruch is an executive in technology and healthcare ventures with broad, diversified experience as an entrepreneur, a business and technology leader, and a venture capitalist.

Baruch is the CEO of Earth & Beyond Ventures - a new Israeli venture capital fund which invests in Israeli-based cutting-edge companies and research projects with potential Earth and Space applications across key DeepTech sectors such as semiconductors, advanced sensors, optics & photonics, quantum computing, materials & nanotech, robotics and engineering, new energy, climate, and more. The fund is backed by leading corporate and financial investors, including Corning, Kyocera, Samtec, SpaceCom, Rangsons, and Rhodium, in partnership with the Israel Innovation Authority.

Baruch holds an M.S. in Health Science and Technology from Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science and Technology, an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at MIT, and a B.Sc. in Information Systems Engineering, cum laude, from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.

Buffy Wajvoda is an experienced leader and advocate in the tech industry with a history of working in public cloud, aerospace/satellite, financial, US Gov't, and technical service industries. She is currently the Global Leader for Aerospace & Satellite Solutions Architecture at AWS. Her expertise includes cyber security, big data, statistical data analysis, cloud computing, and inclusive leadership. Prior to AWS, she spent 3 years at Capital One as Director of Solutions Engineering and Architecture and 15 years with the National Security Agency with a focus on cryptanalysis, radio frequency (RF) analysis, and engineering for satellite and high bandwidth communications ending as the Technical Director for Field Operations.

Robert D. Cabana is a former NASA astronaut, currently serving the agency's associate administrator, its third highest-ranking executive and highest-ranking civil servant. Before taking that position, Cabana was director of NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In that role, Cabana managed all NASA facilities and activities at the spaceport, including the team of civil service and contractor employees who operate and support numerous space programs and projects.

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Cabana graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps and completed Naval Flight Officer training in Pensacola in 1972. Cabana then served as an A-6 bombardier/navigator with Marine Air Wings in Cherry Point, North Carolina, and Iwakuni, Japan.

Returning to Pensacola in 1975, Cabana began pilot training and was designated a naval aviator in September of 1976, earning the Daughters of the American Revolution award as the top Marine to complete flight training that year. He graduated with distinction from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in 1981 and served in the Flight Systems Branch at the Naval Air Test Center until 1984. During his career, Cabana has logged over 7,000 hours in 50 different kinds of aircraft.

Cabana was selected as an astronaut candidate in June 1985 and completed his initial astronaut training in July 1986. He was assigned to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Astronaut Office, serving in a number of leadership positions, including lead astronaut in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory; Mission Control Spacecraft Communicator, famously known as CAPCOM; and chief of NASA's Astronaut Office.

A veteran of four spaceflights, Cabana has logged 38 days in space, serving as the pilot on STS-41 and STS-53 and mission commander on STS-65 and STS-88. His fourth flight was the first assembly mission of the International Space Station in December of 1998. Following his retirement as a colonel from the Marine Corps in September 2000, Cabana was appointed a member of the Federal Senior Executive Service. He served in numerous, challenging senior management positions at Johnson Space Center in Houston, ultimately becoming deputy director.

In October 2007, Cabana was appointed director of NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. A year later he was reassigned as the tenth director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center.

Cabana's many achievements have been recognized with induction into the Astronaut Hall of Fame and being named an Associate Fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Fellow in the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. He has received numerous personal awards and decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award, and the National Space Club Florida Committee's Dr. Kurt H. Debus Award. He also is a recipient of the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement’s National Space Trophy.

As deputy associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, Catherine Koerner provides leadership and management of human spaceflight development and operations related to NASA's Moon and Mars exploration goals. In this role, Koerner is responsible for establishing and defining future space exploration architectures while overseeing development of new space transportation systems and supporting capabilities that are critical for human-led deep space exploration and scientific research. In her most recent position, Ms. Koerner was the manager for the agency's Orion Program, where she was responsible for the development and operations of NASA’s newest spacecraft that will carry astronauts on Artemis missions to the Moon and return them safely to Earth.

Koerner began her career at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, as a mission design engineer. In 1991, she joined the agency's Johnson Space Center in the Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) and served there in progressively more responsible roles, including flight controller, space shuttle flight director and International Space Station flight director, coordinating the near real-time engineering evaluation and maintenance support for station operations spanning 20 Expeditions, 12 space shuttle-supported station assembly missions, and 63 complex spacewalks. She also served as the MOD Space Shuttle Manager overseeing the mission operations support to the Space Shuttle Program and supported the International Space Station Program, where she held various leadership positions including deputy manager of the International Space Station Vehicle Office and manager of the Transportation Integration Office. Koerner also served as deputy director and later the director of the Human Health and Performance Directorate.

Koerner earned her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has received numerous awards including a Presidential Rank Award in 2019, two Outstanding Leadership Medals (2006, 2013), NASA's Exceptional Service Medal (2007), Johnson's Center Director Commendation (2017) and numerous Group Achievement Awards.

A key architect of the planning, design, technical integration, and execution of microgravity research and technology demonstrations on the International Space Station, Christian Maender brings his unique expertise to Axiom’s leadership in offering microgravity as a next-generation platform for innovation and discovery. He directs Axiom’s conversations with in-space manufacturing and research customers.

Prior to joining Axiom, Christian’s 17-year NASA career included roles as Technical Liaison for ISS Mission Integrations & Operations, ISS National Lab Deputy Manager for Commercial Utilization, Chair of the ISS Research Planning Working Group, and Increment Payload Manager. He has an extensive history working with a variety of customers to expand commercialization of the ISS and bring commercial in-space research and manufacturing services into the ISS National Lab.

Christian is the recipient of numerous awards including the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal and a co-author on a litany of publications derived from ISS research in which he participated. He holds both a B.S. and M.S. in biomechanical engineering from Tulane University.

Christopher Allison was formally the Regulatory Affairs Lead for Sierra Space. In support of Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser® orbital vehicle program, he has served as the Federal Agencies Integration Lead and Landing Site Coordinator. In recent years, Mr. Allison has represented SNC to the Federal Aviation Administration, Department of State, and Federal launch Ranges, and Space Florida coordinating compliance with government requirements, regulations, and contract negotiations in support of planned Dream Chaser launches and landings. Mr. Allison was asked to represent Sierra Space on 3 Aviation Rulemaking Committees discussing topics of commercial space regulations and integration into the National Airspace System. He has also held positions as Chairman of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation’s Regulatory Committee, AIA’s Commercial Space Committee, and ASTM’s subcommittee on uncrewed launch and reentry vehicles. Further, he advises Sierra Space representation on COMSTAC.

In parallel to these duties, Christopher has supported the coordination of secondary payloads on NASA CRS2 missions as well as dedicated payloads on future Dream Chaser free flying missions. He has also served as a mission manger on NASA’s CRS2 missions two and three, leading early stage mission planning. Recently, Mr. Allison has transition to the role of Sr. Manager of Business Development (Commercial Markets) where he is tasked with developing future commercial markets and sales for Dream Chaser, LIFE, and Orbital Reef missions.

Prof. Dan G. Blumberg is the Vice President for Regional and Industrial Development, and Incumbent of the Simon Family Chair in Remote Sensing at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU). As of July 2022, Prof. Blumberg was appointed by the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology as Chairman of the Israel Space Agency (ISA).

Prior to his current position and appointment Prof. Blumberg served as the Vice-President and Dean for Research and Development. He received his Ph.D. from Arizona State University (1993) where he studied and worked in the Planetary Geology Group and focused on aeolian processes and microwave radar remote sensing to study arid zone environments and planetary geology.

Prof. Blumberg was a Co-I on the SRL (Spaceborne Radar Laboratory) mission, SRTM mission and other space missions. Prof. Blumberg has been working for the past 20 years on analysis of multi-parameter remote sensing data including radar, hyperspectral, multi-spectral and GPR data; he published numerous papers in the areas of windblown geomorphology and target and anomaly detection.

Prof. Blumberg combined field studies with the use of remote sensing data; he recently led with IAI the development and successful launch of a Nanosatellite, BGUsat - a 3U CubeSat with a shortwave infrared imager onboard.

Prof. Blumberg has been a leader in the development of the IT and cyber eco-system in Beer-Sheva, he brought over 40 multi-national companies, 70 startups and almost 300 new engineers to the advanced technologies park in Beer-Sheva.

Prof. Blumberg is also a member of a national committee deigned to leverage the AI industry and research in Israel; he is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics.

Danna is an experienced system engineer with over 20 years of experience in satellite systems engineering, mission design, remote sensing and space debris.

Previously employed at Israel's leading and innovative companies, she fulfilled leading roles as system engineer at the space systems Directorate in Rafael, and in the Technological Mission on the Israeli - French VENUS satellite. Furthermore, Danna worked as a system engineer at Effective Space Solutions R&D, providing overall mission design of the SPACEDRONE ™ On Orbit servicing. Additionally, she has been working on space debris and malfunctioned satellite behavior, active debris removal and mega constellations post mission disposal.

Currently Danna is a senior satellite and mission systems engineer on a thermal imaging remote sensing technology demonstration mission for Elbit Systems Aerospace Division. Danna holds both BSc & MSc in Aerospace Engineering from the Aerospace Engineering Department in the Technion, Israel, and is also an ISU alumnus (SSP16).

Danna has been part of D-MARS (Desert Mars Analog Ramon Station) association, volunteering both in the system engineering team, public relations and as mission commander in the mission control. D- MARS board member since June 2020.

Danna is a founding board member of the WiSpace association, promoting gender equity in the Israeli space sector, serving as the Chairwomen since June 2021. Always excited to be part of outreach and promoting women in STEM.

Dr. Deganit Paikowsky is a techno-social scientist at the International Relations Department at the Hebrew University. Deganit is also a Non-Resident Scholar at the Space Policy Institute of the Elliott School for Foreign Affairs, George Washington University. She is an expert on International Relations with a unique focus and first-hand experience in the interface between world politics and technology, especially Space. For 20 years, Dr. Paikowsky's passion and research expertise enabled her to develop a comprehensive understanding of current and future global space market and digital-space trends and an intimate acquaintance with the space ecosystem. Dr. Paikowsky is known for developing the field of space policy research in Israel. She also made an important contribution to developing Israel's civil space policy. She served voluntarily as a Vice President at the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) on behalf of the Israel Space Agency (2019-2022). Currently, she supports the Israel Space Agency as a Senior Scientist on its Advising Committee

Doron Shterman is a physicist and engineer specializing in the development of high-end remote sensing satellite platforms.

Doron holds a B.sc in physics and M.sc & B.sc in Electrical Engineering from the Technion, and is now finalizing his PhD research in the advance photonics lab at the EE department at the Technion.

Doron serves as the Chief Technology Officer at ISI.

Doron Zauer is an experienced investor director and entrepreneur focused on the Israeli technology market. Doron is a Co-Founder & General Partner at Earth & Beyond Ventures, which is an early stage Israeli VC fund investing in deep-tech and new-space technologies, in partnership with the Israel Innovation Authority.

MBA, Elena Eyngorn

Elena is a Senior Business Development Manager at Exolaunch – a global leader in ride-share launch, deployment, in-space transportation, and integration services for the New Space industry. Elena has 15 years' experience in space industry, leading on strategy, business development and client relationships across research, government and industry. Prior to this, she coordinated and managed scientific and R&D projects at the Faculty of Space Technologies, at TU Berlin. Elena supports the Exolaunch in building new business lines and strengthening international cooperation. She is identifying and leading new, long-term business opportunities to support the company’s core capabilities through evolving commercial activities.

Apart from that, Elena is actively cooperating with various governmental institutions to improve current business climate and EU regulations in space sector.

Elena’s personal mission is to contribute to growing EU sustainable Space industry. Elena comes as a new generation Space entrepreneur with the ambition to improve the global awareness, by putting Space within everyone’s reach and to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs and engineers.

Eli Cohen is a technical director & defense solutions specialist at Microsoft with over a decade of experience in space technologies, cyber, AI, and advanced missions. He holds a Master of Science degree in business administration from MLA & engineering leadership from MIT.

Eli is credited with establishing & leading the IL Microsoft Technology Center (MTC).

The MTC team supports Microsoft's most strategic customers in bridging the gap between business and technology.

Using design-led thinking techniques, MTC help our customers develop their innovation and cloud journey from strategy to execution., including practical envisioning & technical workshops.

Eli has vast business, sales, and engineering experience combined with field roles. In his 5 years at Microsoft, Eli has worked across a wide variety of startups, public & private sectors, and helped them plan their digital transformation strategy and bring it to life.

Dr. Eli Galanti is a scientist at the Weizmann institute. His main area of research is the dynamics of the gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn. Together with Prof. Yohai Kaspi,he studies the large-scale flow on the planets using forward and inverse modeling. He develops methods relating the flow dynamics in the gas giants, to measurements of the gravity and magnetic fields, performed by the NASA missions of Juno and Cassini. Eli is also a Co-Investigator in the European Space Agency JUICE mission, where their Israeli built USO instrument will be installed.

Eli holds a B.Sc. in Geophysics from Tel Aviv University, and a Ph.D. in Physical Oceanography from the Weizmann Institute of Science. He also conducted Postdoctoral studies at Columbia University, and held a research position at Tel Aviv University, prior to joining the Weizmann Institute as a staff Scientist.

Emma Vardimon, Director of Global Partnerships

Emma leads the global partnerships division that helps identify the most pressing problems and growth challenges of MNCs, NGOs, and other global organizations and connect them with relevant technologies. The team goal is to create and maintain high-quality relationships for their clients within the Israeli startup and tech innovation ecosystem.

Emma has over 20 years of experience in various marketing communications and marketing managerial positions, focusing primarily on high-tech corporations and startups over the past 10 years. Originally from France, Emma holds a B.A. in political science and Middle East history from Tel Aviv University and is an International Space University (ISU) graduate of the 2021 executive course(ESC TLV).

In April 2022, Eytan Stibbe was a crew member of the Ax-1 first commercial astronaut crew to the International Space Station together with former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, Larry Connor and Mark Pathy. Eytan created the Rakia Mission in space, which was assembled by the Israeli private and public sectors, including educators, students, scientists and artists with the vision that space is for all. The Rakia Mission represents the first attempt to apply impact metrics to a space mission, and considering Eytan’s background in the impact investment field, this was a natural path to take.

Eytan Stibbe, Founding partner of Vital Capital, has been involved with investing in developing countries for over 30 years and is considered a driving force behind the Impact model for investment in infrastructure development. He has professional experience working across a variety of sectors, including agriculture, education, healthcare and utilities. Examples include creation of international financial solutions for the design and construction of rural and urban communities, regional air traffic control systems and STEM focused educational institutes. These large-scale business ventures, require deep understanding of the community needs, a unique insight and vision from conception through execution, and are guided by two principles: humanitarian objectives and economic stability.

Eytan Stibbe lives in Israel, is a board member of the Center for African Studies at Ben Gurion University, a member of the World Economic Forum as well as a governor and board member at several universities and NGOs dedicated to supporting the education, wellbeing and culture of underprivileged communities.

Gadi Arieli (66). Ariely has extensive experience in managing complex and international operations , working with government ministries and international entities. He has excellent familiarity with the industrial sectors and the innovation community in Israel. In the past, he served as CEO of the Israel Export & International Cooperation Institute , which operates under the Ministry of Economy and Industry, and even served as CEO of the Likud party.

Gadi has represented the Israeli industry and innovation vis-à-vis international institutions, economic and diplomatic organizations, while promoting the industry and the economy of the State of Israel. He has created collaborations with parallel entities both in Israel and abroad, and has supervised and managed business events, exhibitions, conferences, and state delegations.

Gadi holds a bachelor's degree in engineering and design in technology with a specialization in textile engineering from the Shenkar Academy. He is a father of three and lives in Hadera.

A NASA veteran who flew on all three Space Shuttles, Garrett Reisman was selected by NASA as a mission specialist astronaut in 1998. His first mission in 2008 was aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour which dropped him off for a 95 day stay aboard the International Space Station after which he returned to Earth aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. His second mission in 2010 was aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. During these missions, Garrett performed 3 spacewalks, operated the Space Station Robot Arm and was a flight engineer aboard the Space Shuttle. Not only was he an astronaut, but Garrett was also an aquanaut serving as a crew member on NEEMO V, living on the bottom of the sea in the Aquarius deep underwater habitat for 2 weeks.

After leaving NASA in early 2011, he joined Elon Musk at SpaceX where he served in multiple capacities most recently as the Director of Space Operations.

Garrett stepped down from his full-time position at SpaceX in May of 2018 and in June 2018 he became a Professor of Astronautical Engineering in the Viterbi School at USC. He also continues to support SpaceX as a Senior Advisor.

Garrett attended the University of Pennsylvania and Caltech where he received his Ph.D in 1997

Giorgio Saccoccia, current President of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) since April 2019, has over thirty years of experience in the aerospace sector, mainly gained in the international arena.

Graduated with honors in Aeronautical Engineering with specialization in space at the University of Pisa on March 1988, under his presidency at ASI, the Italian space budget has more than tripled, allowing Italy to strongly strengthen its international positioning in the sector.

Hagay serves as Gilat’s Chief Product and Marketing Officer.

Prior to joining Gilat, Hagay served as VP Strategic Accounts – Cyber Security at Allot Communications (Nasdaq – ALLT) where he was instrumental in transforming Allot to be the market leader of network-based cyber-security as-a-service for communication Service Providers. Previously he served as Gilat’s Head of the VSAT Line of Business. In this period Gilat became the world leader for LTE cellular and commercial In-Flight broadband Connectivity over satellite. Earlier in his career, Hagay held senior positions in Sales, Marketing and Product Management at Modu Mobile, PacketLight Networks, which he co-founded (Acquired) and Telstra Research Laboratories. Hagay started his career in an elite technology unit of the IDF and is the co-author of nine granted patents.

Hagay holds a BSc and MSc in Electronic Engineering from Tel-Aviv University and an MBA from Monash University.

Helene is Co-Founder & CEO of The Exploration Company. She has served as an executive at Airbus Defence & Space and ArianeGroup both in operational and strategic roles: from starting as Head of Innovation to leading major European space programs. She is the Founder and Chair of Urania Ventures, a deep tech investment company. She is the Founder and Chairman of The Karman Project, a non-profit foundation which fosters trust, independent dialogue and cooperation between the ones who shape the future of space. She graduated from ENS-Ulm, Sciences-Po Paris and ENA.

Walther Pelzer has been a Member of the DLR Executive Board since 1 January 2018. He is Director General of the German Space Agency at DLR, based in Bonn.

Born in 1967, Walther Pelzer studied mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen University. Subsequently he completed his Ph.D

Ido is Co-founder and CEO of Remondo, whose mission is to redefine imaging technology to allow very high-resolution capture of the Earth at very low-cost.

Previously, Ido was also Co-founder and CTO for SpacePharma and led the development of the company's lab payloads and the first missions to space.

In between, he has worked with several local Israeli and International companies and organizations in the earth observation domain both on business and technological aspects.

Ido served in 9900 in various roles: both technological and operational, at some point heading all of the Israeli national satellite operations.

He has a masters in engineering from the Technion

. at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology. He also obtained a correspondence MBA from the Universities of Zürich, St. Gallen and Boston. From 1999 to 2007, Pelzer held positions within industry on a national as well as international level, including managerial appointments at Degussa AG (later FERRO Corp.) and Pankl Racing AG. From 2007 to 2015 Pelzer was Director and subsequently Deputy Director General of the Research and Technology Department at the Ministry of Innovation, Science, Research and Technology of the State of North-Rhine Westphalia. He gave a variety of guest lectures and seminars at universities, focusing on the issues of balanced scorecards, technology management, innovations based on technology platforms, and working with subsidiaries in the USA.

James Free was selected as the associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at the agency’s Headquarters in Washington by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on Sept. 20, 2021.

At the time of Free’s appointment, NASA also announced the directorate leading all the agency’s human spaceflight operations would separate into two areas. Free will lead a new directorate the agency is establishing, as well as work closely with the Space Operations Mission Directorate.

Free is a formerly retired NASA civil servant who has spent the past few years in a variety of private sector roles including most recently chief operating officer and senior consultant for Lead Off the X. Prior to his work at Lead Off the X, he served as senior vice president of Aerospace Systems at Peerless Technologies.

He retired from NASA in 2017, most recently serving as the agency’s deputy associate administrator for technical for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. He was responsible for assisting the associate administrator in providing strategic direction for all aspects of NASA’s human spaceflight exploration mission. In that role, Free provided cross-agency support functions of space communications and rockets, including direction for the operation and use of the International Space Station, development of the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft, and direction for the commercial crew and cargo programs that provide logistics and crew transportation to the station.

Free began his NASA career in 1990 at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, as a propulsion engineer and later as a systems engineer on several spacecraft. He served in a variety of positions at Johnson Space Center in Houston and Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Free worked on various projects and programs spanning everything from the International Space Station and electric actuation technologies, to the Orion and Prometheus spacecraft.

He went on to serve as deputy director before his appointment as the Glenn director, where he was responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the activities required in accomplishing the missions assigned to the center.

Jerry Javornicky, CEO at SpaceKnow Inc. and Serial Entrepreneur

Jerry is a serial entrepreneur and has been managing successful businesses in technology fields for the last 18 years. Jerry has worked with different clients all over the world ranging Fortune 500 companies, NGOs, Governments, Banks, and Hedge Funds. Being SpaceKnow CEO and co-founder for more than 9 years, he has vast experience in finding where satellite data can bring the most value for the end-users and other stakeholders in the value chain. He has built a strong network in the aerospace industry and has pushed the boundaries of satellite analytics as applied to Copernicus and non-Copernicus data. Jerry is adept at leading companies and experienced starting a company in Silicon Valley.

Jonathan Geifman is a Co-Founder and CEO of Helios – an Israeli company that is reinventing how humanity is sourcing metals. Whether it’s steel or critical metals, the ever-growing scarcity of these foundational materials, all under a boiling geopolitical arena, creates a huge challenge in accessing the required quantities for a sustainable civilization. By developing novel processes to refine nature’s accessible minerals, Helios is paving the way to a more secure future. Helios is currently focused on two main avenues under development - zero direct emissions steel (with reduced production cost) here on earth, and oxygen production on the lunar surface, to make space mining economically viable in the coming decades.

Dr. Julien-Alexandre Lamamy is the Managing Director at ispace Europe.

He has over 15 years of professional experience in space projects working at the MIT Space Systems Laboratory, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA), Orbital ATK, and ispace. He has contributed to 7 spaceflight projects covering earth observation, astrophysics, and planetary exploration.

Julien holds Masters from Ecole Centrale de Lyon, and a Masters and a Ph.D. in Space Systems Engineering from MIT. He is currently preparing ispace Europe to be a leader in lunar rover technologies, exploration data analytics, and space resource business.

Kaylyn Shibata is a Founder and Entrepreneur in Residence at Union Labs Ventures, where she focuses on SpaceTech. She is an entrepreneur and technologist with a decade of experience in senior business leadership positions and scaling early stage operations in Big Tech and Aerospace. 

Prior to joining Union Labs, Kaylyn built out the Business Operations team at Astra Space, an early stage launch vehicle and satellite development company, leading strategic growth and operations (ranging from Spaceport development to regulatory licensing for launch vehicles), and Spacecraft product development. Kaylyn spent 5 years at Google in Global Business Operations and Product, where as product lead she notably helped build and launch the Google Developer Platform, a global developer ecosystem for Android's 1B+ users and 300+ developer products.

Kaylyn holds a B.Sc from Brown University in Neuroscience. She is based in San Francisco where she is building and fostering the Women in Science, Space, and Engineering community in the Bay Area.
 

Adv. KEREN SHAHAR is the Senior Deputy Legal Adviser of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and since February 2022, is also the Head of the Israeli Inter-Agency Task Force on Sanctions.

She specializes in strategic international law, including outer space law, cyber law, legal aspects of emerging technologies, as well as international sanctions, arms control, export control and foreign investments screening mechanisms.

Ms. Shahar gives legal advice on international space law to the Israeli Space Agency, she is a member of the ISA Steering Committee and is part of the team that drafts a new Israeli space law.

Ms. Shahar has previously served as the Second Vice Chair of the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Use of Outer Space. She is part of the Specialized Panel of Arbitrators pursuant to the PCA Outer Space Rules. She is also a visiting lecturer on international space law at the International Space University (ISU) and in various Israeli universities.

Ms. Shahar is a LL.B and LL.M graduate of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, has a M.A. in Diplomacy and Security from Tel-Aviv University (Magna Cum Laude) and is an alumna of the International Space University Executive Space Course.

Colonel Rosen served over 23 years with the US Air Force where he was a commander, space operator and DoD certified acquisition officer, including tours at the Pentagon, National Reconnaissance Office and Air Force Space Command. As a former SpaceX VP of Mission and Launch Ops, and Customer Operations & Integration with more than 200 space launch missions completed successfully, Lee brings extensive experience with operations, engineering, program management and government relations. With 10+ years at SpaceX, he led the build of 3 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch pads, was responsible for operations & mission management of all military, civil and commercial missions, and the team that flew cargo & crew Dragon spacecraft, as well as Astronaut training. After moving to Scotland, he became small launch provider Skyrora’s Chief Operations Officer. In 2022 he co-founded ThinkOrbital where he serves as President & Chief Strategy Officer building large, scalable, affordable, autonomously assembled infrastructure in space to ignite the new space economy. Lee’s been married for 30+ years, has 2 lovely daughters, and is an avid runner, cyclist, surfer, outdoorsman and brewer.

Lynn is a Principal and the Managing Director of the VC fund Alpine Space Ventures.

Lynn built her career in the NewSpace industry, leading the European business development & sales activities of the Japanese space exploration startup ispace. In this role, she built the company’s public and private European payload sales pipeline, formed joint technology development with non-space companies across various industries, and coordinated activities between the engineering and business teams. Lynn also served as the chair of the technical team for the Hague International Space Resources Working Group, which was responsible for creating a governance framework for space resources for the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. After her time at ispace, she co-founded Moonarch, an incubator and accelerator of NewSpace businesses based on terrestrial technologies from various industries including telecommunications, robotics, navigation and biology.

Before joining the space industry, Lynn advised the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce on space matters as Strategy & Economic Advisor and acted as Luxembourg’s advisor to the World Economic Forum. Lynn serves as a member of the Management Board of Luxinnovation, Luxembourg’s National Agency for Innovation and Research and holds a Bachelor degree in Economics and a Master degree in International Political Economy from King’s College London.

Dr Mamatha Maheshwarappa is Payload Systems Lead at the UK Space Agency (UKSA). Also, the technical lead on UKSA’s initiative on Space Based Solar Power. Before this, she was the technical lead on SPEQTRE (Space Photon Entanglement Quantum Technology Readiness Experiment) satellite project and has worked on ESA's Sentinel 4 & 5 test campaigns at RAL Space. Mamatha has worked on transceivers for ExoMars and Lunar Polar Sample Return projects while at QinetiQ. She has a PhD in Software Defined Radios for Multi-Satellite Communications from the University of Surrey, UK. She was the technical lead for STUDSAT-1, India’s first pico-satellite, launched by Indian Space Research Organisation, listed in the Limca Book of Records. Mamatha is part of the Women in Aerospace UK committee representing the UK Space Agency.

Mr. Brancati began his career at Selenia Industrie where he dealt with System Analysis activities for the Electronic Defence Division, prior to moving to the Telespazio Group in 1990.

Since mid-2016 Marco has been the Chief Technology & Innovation Officer and has been responsible for Information Technology as well for whole Telespazio group since June 2021.

His prior experience includes: subsystem project manager for the Italsat F1 and SAX satellite missions, Program Manager for the Operations Engineering and O&M activities relevant to the Iridium and Astrolink programs, Key Account Manager for EC and Eumetsat, and management of the Telespazio Studies Unit within the Studies and Innovative Projects Business Unit. He was also responsible for Telespazio Institutional Programs (Sicral 1B and Athena-FIDUS among the others), and he served as the Head of Marketing & Commercial Planning.

In September 2008 Marco was appointed Vice President of Telespazio Network & Connectivity Business Line, responsible for the development of all TLC and TV programs and products in the company. In February 2011 he was appointed Senior Vice President of Network & Connectivity Business Unit at the group level. In the same year he completed his Executive Leadership Program at London Imperial College.

Dr. Marco Villa serves as EVP Chief Revenue Officer for Terran Orbital Corporation, an industry-leading small-satellite products and services provider. Dr. Villa’s established expertise plays an integral role in managing daily operations, strategic efforts and the acquisition and execution of satellite opportunities for defense, civil and commercial organizations worldwide. Prior to his position at Terran Orbital, Dr. Villa served as the Director of Mission Operations at SpaceX, where he developed and managed the Dragon spacecraft missions to the International Space Station. Dr. Villa also advises on corporate strategy and business execution in high technology industries. With a Doctoral degree in aerospace engineering and a Master’s in engineering management, Dr. Marco Villa continues to make his mark in the aerospace industry domestically and internationally.

Mark Pathy is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Montreal-based Mavrik Corp, an investment and financing firm with a particular focus on innovation, entrepreneurship and impact investing. Mark is also the Chairman of the Board of Stingray Group Inc., a global music, media, and technology company based in Montreal.

Prior to founding Mavrik, Mark served as the President and CEO of Fednav International Ltd., an international dry bulk shipping company, and co-CEO of its parent company Fednav Limited. He continues to serve as a member of the group’s Board of Directors. He obtained an Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto in 1993 and a MBA from INSEAD in 1998.

Mark firmly believes in the importance of philanthropy and serves on the Board of the Pathy Family Foundation. He is also a member of the Board and Executive Committee of the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation, as well as the Chairman of the Board of Dans la Rue, an organization supporting at-risk and homeless youth.

In April of 2022, Mark became the 12th Canadian to travel to space, as a commercial astronaut on Axiom Space's AX-1 mission to the International Space Station, the first fully private mission to the ISS.

Mark resides in Montreal, Canada with his wife Jessica and children Jackson (8), Margot (7) and Luke (5).

"Matthew Erickson is SpiderOaks Vice President of Solutions guiding federal clients in applying zero trust and distributed ledger technologies to securing sensitive data, communications and hybrid space environments.

Joining SpiderOak in 2010 Matt is the architect of the companies initiative to expand the federal use case for blockchain in Hybrid Space, DoD and Intelligence.

In 2018 Matt was Executive Director of the Digital Privacy Alliance where he was responsible for bringing together sectors of the tech industry that respect user privacy enabling them to speak with a single voice in legislatures across the country. "

Matt is a prolific writer and thought leader, his most recent work and interviews are featured below.

• https://nationalinterest.org/feature/russia-just-not-good-cyberwar-201465

• https://cheddar.com/media/microsoft-exchange-hack-caused-by-china-us-allies-say

• https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/infrastructure-security/perspective-thwarting-chinese-and-russian-cyber-attacks-starts-at-home/

• https://www.19fortyfive.com/2021/07/cyber-deterrence-doesnt-work/

Meir Nissim Nir is director of Advanced Space Systems at IAI. Established 4 years ago as IAI’s new space branch, it is aimed at creating high price/performance satellite systems by scaling down IAI’s high end assets. The light satellite platform we have created carries the punch of IAI’s high-end earth observation systems in many aspects: secure and broad band data channel, immediate tasking and high angular agility for many house calls and most importantly longevity.

This affordable platform also carries missions like Ultrasat, UV space observation in GEO, and the Beresheet2 Orbiter-Landers mission and  attractive offers for future lunar and deep space missions. 

Meir joined IAI in 2007 to form the Satellite Command & Control branch and led it for 6 years. In parallel he managed several engineering & business development activities, among which was kick-starting the introduction of color to the Optsat3000 series and upgrading our SAR system to solid state technology.

Meir holds a  BSc in Physics and Mathematics from HUJI

Mike Collett is Founder and Managing Partner of Promus Ventures, a venture capital firm

investing in deep-tech early-stage startups, with offices in Chicago, San Francisco and

Luxembourg. Mike has been a venture capital investor for over 20 years. Mike has invested in

over 100 startups, including Rocket Lab, AngelList, Whoop, Mapbox, ICEYE, Bellabeat, FLYR,

Kensho, Cobalt Robotics, Swift Navigation, and others.

Prior to Promus Ventures, Mike was Founder and Managing Partner of Masters Capital

Nanotechnology Fund, a venture capital firm. While working at Masters Capital, a hedge fund,

Mike invested in software and hardware startups. Prior to venture capital, Mike was a Vice

President in Merrill Lynch’s Mergers & Acquisitions group.

Mike holds a BA in Math and BA in English from Vanderbilt University. He also holds a MBA in

Finance from Washington University in St. Louis.

Mike and his wife Paige have four children and live in Chicago.

Skip leads the Aerospace Practice group at the Denver-based law firm of Sherman & Howard.

He has 40 years’ experience in the aerospace industry and represents clients in nearly every segment of the industry, from large companies to startup ventures and from manufacturers to launch service providers. He helps national and international clients address legal matters ranging from the planning, purchasing, and operation of space assets to launch services, space insurance, government contracts, regulatory issues, and other matters. Skip is often called on for first-of-its-kind legal projects, and he represented Israeli Private Astronaut Eytan Stibbe, one of the private astronauts on the recent Axiom mission to the ISS – the first all-commercial mission to the ISS. He graduated from the Air Force Academy, George Washington University Law School, and has a doctorate in space law from McGill University. Skip is a former Air Force attorney who held several significant leadership positions during his Air Force career, including Director of Space Law at Air Force Space Command and Chief of Space Law for the Air Force.

Miri Keren is an innovation expert on behalf of Deutsche Telekom.
Her main domains are Fintech, Web3 & Energy, as well as distruptive technologies in various fields.

Miri has comprehensive background and ~10 years experience in business development focusing on streamlining business operations, corporate startagy, driving growth, and devising overall business development and technology innovation.

GorillaLink democratizes satellite IoT by connecting IoT sensors anytime and anywhere, enabling seamless and affordable communications for industries worldwide thanks to its unique proprietary technology.

Dr. Neta Palkovitz is the founder of the NewSpace Firm, a consultancy specializing in space law, regulation and NewSpace activities. She is a qualified lawyer since 2009. She worked as the Legal Adviser of ISIS- Innovative Solutions In Space B.V. (ISISPACE) in the Netherlands for 10 years, where she handled launch contracts for the launch of +600 satellites, amongst her other responsibilities. She then joined Airbus Defence and Space Netherlands B.V. as a Senior Contracts Officer and Bid Manager, before starting her own consultancy. Neta holds a PhD in space law from the International Institute of Air and Space Law (IIASL) at Leiden University, and published a book titled: “Regulating a Revolution: Small Satellites and the Law of Outer Space”. Neta was a lecturer at the IIASL, and teaches space law at Tel Aviv University.

Niv David is a recognized executive cyber professional, holding a demonstrated track record at the forefront of global cyber conflict for more than 20 years.

Combining interdisciplinary synergy between systems of systems engineering, operational practice and strategic design, Niv specializes in advanced tech operations doctrines, cyber strategy and policy for space, telecom and mission-critical systems.

Niv was the first and former Head of Aviation and Space Cyber Programs with the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and is currently a lecturer and fellow, Cyber and Tech Operations, with the Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center (ICRC), Tel-Aviv University.

Niv also holds the position of Customer Cyber Security Director with Ericsson North America.

Ofir has over 20years in the satellite and space industry, starting with work on imaging and communication satellites in LEO and GEO. After that Ofir joined the development of GEO on-orbit-servicing and in 2020 joined Astroscale to continue the mission of sustainability in space using servicing and debris mitigation.

Opher is CEO of EVR Motors since November 2019. He leads a team developing advanced electric vehicle motors, designed to be smaller and more cost effective than traditional designs.

From 2011 Opher was VP and General Manager of the Space Division at Israel Aerospace Industries. In this capacity he led development, construction, launch and operation of observation and communication satellites for Israeli and foreign users. Opher led IAI’s team in the design and build of SpaceIl’s Beresheet lunar lander, and during Israel’s breakthrough mission to the moon.

Previously Opher managed the Tactical Systems Division at Ness TSG, and was director of marketing at IAI Missile division.

Until 2002 Opher served in the Israel Navy in a variety of operational and staff positions. Opher still serves in reserve duty and holds the rank of Rear Admiral.

Opher holds a BA in economics with honors and an MBA from Haifa university.

25 years of breakthrough research and algorithmic experience in Remote sensing, GIS and computer vision.

Held multiple leadership roles in the IDF Intelligence and start-ups.

An expert on geodata science, GIS and insight retrieval from vast data sources (specializing in satellite & aerial imaging).

Ph.D. in Remote Sensing from the Technion.

Dr. Oren Milstein is CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of StemRad, an Israeli-American company that develops, manufactures and sells personal protective equipment (PPE) for ionizing radiation. It is the first company to produce PPE intended to protect users from high energy ionizing radiation and the first to employ selective shielding in its products. Dr. Milstein co-founded StemRad to protect nuclear first reponders in November of 2011, shortly after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan, and has since then expanded StemRad’s product line to protect astronauts and physicians. Formerly, Dr. Milstein, was an NIH fellow at the Scripps Research Institute, where he discovered a novel mechanism for iron deficiency anemia. Dr. Milstein received his Ph.D. degree from The Weizmann Institute of Science in 2008, where he developed novel strategies for bone marrow transplantation into irradiated subjects.

Philippe has over 35 years’ experience in Earth Observation. He spent half his time developing Earth Observation payloads and systems as an optical and a system engineer, and the other half developing related business: selling imagery, Direct Receiving Stations and satellite systems around the world. Philippe is currently mission director of the VHR “Pelican” constellation that Planet is about to start launching

Prof. Ran Ginosar is co-founder and President of Ramon.Space, the Computers-for-Space company. He is also a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology. He received BSc at the Technion (1978) and PhD at Princeton University (1982).

Raphael Roettgen is the managing partner of E2MC Ventures, a space-focused early-stage venture capital firm.

He lectures on space entrepreneurship and finance at several universities including the International Space University (ISU) and the Swiss Institute of Technology at Lausanne (EPFL), hosts the popular Space Business Podcast, and is the author of “To Infinity”, an introductory book on the space economy.

Previously, Mr. Roettgen held senior roles at global investment banks and hedge funds and was also a fintech entrepreneur in Brazil.

He holds degrees in finance from Wharton, machine learning from PUC-Rio and space studies from the International Space University, where he also serves as a governing member.

www.e2mc.space
www.raphaelroettgen.com

Dr. Raz Itzhaki is a Co-Founder and CTO at BeetleSat and NSLComm Ltd.

An expert in the fields of nanosatellites and algorithms with over two decades of experience, Raz has managed multiple satellite programs, integrating various satellites and sub-systems on Israeli and international satellites.

Before opening NSLComm, Raz established the nanosatellite department of Israel Aerospace Industries, a global leader in developing aerospace technology. There, he was responsible for the initiation of multiple nanosatellite programs.
Raz was also the CEO of INSA, the Israeli NanoSatellite Association.
Raz is married and is a father of two daughters.

Rebecca Bresnik is the Associate General Counsel for International Law at NASA, where she leads the international, national security and space law practices. She overseas and advises on senior-level negotiations among NASA and International space agency representatives to ensure legal implementation of NASA’s international matters. Rebecca has also been primary counsel for the International Space Station and Gateway Programs, advised on commercialization of LEO, lunar and exploration activities to include the Artemis Accords. Prior to joining NASA, she also held positions with the Office of the General Counsel of the Air Force and the Undersecretary of the Air Force for International Affairs at the Pentagon and a position with Northrop Grumman’s Air Combat Systems and Unmanned Air Systems. She is also an adjunct Professor of Space Law and faculty advisor for the Space Law Society at the University of Houston Law Center and lectures as a Fulbright Specialist overseas on topics of space law. Married to Astronaut Colonel (ret.) Randolph James Bresnik of Santa Monica, California, they have a son and two daughters.

Renana comes from a strong technical background with extensive product and managerial experience in the areas of Technology, Global Innovation and strategy.

Today, she is a General Partner at Grove Ventures, a leading Israeli Israeli VC empowering early-stage founders to shape the future of the world through cutting-edge technology. Prior to joining Grove Ventures, Renana worked at Applied Materials, a global technology leader, in various product and technical management positions. Her previous position was an engineering fellow at the Center for Innovation in Global Health Technologies at Northwestern University developing diagnostic devices for poor resourced countries.

Renana holds an MSc from Northwestern University in Chicago in Engineering and a BSc from Tel Aviv University in Biomedical Engineering. She is a captain (res.) in the IDF and served as a technology officer in the military’s elite intelligence unit 8200

Ricardo Conde, 57 years old, is the father of two beautiful girls. He holds a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from IST – Technical University of Lisbon and a postgraduate degree in Space Technologies. He began his professional career in 1991, having been linked to the Aeronautics and Space sector since 1993 with the participation in several National and International programs, in particular in Space and Ground segments. In 2019 Ricardo joined the Portuguese Space Agency, Portugal Space as a member of the board. About one year later, Ricardo Conde was appointed President of the Portuguese Space Agency.

Rick Spaulding is a Senior Project Manager and Wildlife Biologist with over 25 years of experience in preparing environmental impact analyses for a variety of commercial vertical and horizontal launch operations and reentry operations and U.S. Department of Defense (Air Force and Navy) vertical launch operations. He has prepared environmental compliance documents for commercial launch operations in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Portugal, and Ireland. These environmental compliance documents assessed the effects of vertical and horizontal launch operations on humans and terrestrial and marine wildlife (e.g., launch noise and sonic booms), climate and air quality (e.g., greenhouse gas emissions), marine water quality (e.g., from jettisoned stages), land use, and cultural resources (terrestrial and marine), as well as other resources as appropriate. He is currently providing environmental compliance support for proposed commercial horizontal launch operations at 10 sites in 8 countries. In addition to preparing environmental assessments in accordance with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s regulations regarding the issuance of launch vehicle and launch site (spaceport) licenses for commercial launch operations, he has prepared documents to support consultations under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, and Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, as well as under international laws and treaties (e.g., MARPOL, OSPAR Convention, CITES, Natura 2000, London Convention/Protocol).

Robert D. Cabana is a former NASA astronaut, currently serving the agency's associate administrator, its third highest-ranking executive and highest-ranking civil servant. Before taking that position, Cabana was director of NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In that role, Cabana managed all NASA facilities and activities at the spaceport, including the team of civil service and contractor employees who operate and support numerous space programs and projects.

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Cabana graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps and completed Naval Flight Officer training in Pensacola in 1972. Cabana then served as an A-6 bombardier/navigator with Marine Air Wings in Cherry Point, North Carolina, and Iwakuni, Japan.

Returning to Pensacola in 1975, Cabana began pilot training and was designated a naval aviator in September of 1976, earning the Daughters of the American Revolution award as the top Marine to complete flight training that year. He graduated with distinction from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in 1981 and served in the Flight Systems Branch at the Naval Air Test Center until 1984. During his career, Cabana has logged over 7,000 hours in 50 different kinds of aircraft.

Cabana was selected as an astronaut candidate in June 1985 and completed his initial astronaut training in July 1986. He was assigned to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Astronaut Office, serving in a number of leadership positions, including lead astronaut in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory; Mission Control Spacecraft Communicator, famously known as CAPCOM; and chief of NASA's Astronaut Office.

A veteran of four spaceflights, Cabana has logged 38 days in space, serving as the pilot on STS-41 and STS-53 and mission commander on STS-65 and STS-88. His fourth flight was the first assembly mission of the International Space Station in December of 1998. Following his retirement as a colonel from the Marine Corps in September 2000, Cabana was appointed a member of the Federal Senior Executive Service. He served in numerous, challenging senior management positions at Johnson Space Center in Houston, ultimately becoming deputy director.

In October 2007, Cabana was appointed director of NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. A year later he was reassigned as the tenth director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center.

Cabana's many achievements have been recognized with induction into the Astronaut Hall of Fame and being named an Associate Fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Fellow in the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. He has received numerous personal awards and decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award, and the National Space Club Florida Committee's Dr. Kurt H. Debus Award. He also is a recipient of the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement’s National Space Trophy.

Dr. Ron Tomer serves as the president of the Manufactures' Association of Israel (MAI) and as the Chairman
of the Israeli Employers and Business Organizations Presidency (IEBO), which is the umbrella organization
of private sector employers in Israel. In addition, he is the owner and co-CEO of the generic pharmaceutical
company "Unipharm Ltd".

Dr. Tomer was born in Tel Aviv in 1966 to Zebulon and Shoshana Tomer, who founded "Unipharm LTD",
which develops, manufactures and markets generic drugs since 1975. Following the footsteps of his parents,
Dr. Tomer obtained a bachelor's degree in pharmacy at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, a master's
degree in Business Administration at Tel Aviv University and a PhD in Pharmacy at the University of London.
Upon graduating his studies, Dr. Tomer became involved in the activities of Unipharm, and a few years later,
together with his younger brother Gil, he took on the management of the company. The two brothers led to
the growth of the company, and in 2017 they established their new factory in the "Mevo Carmel" industrial
area in the north of Israel, which currently employs Over 220 employees.

Alongside his business activities, in 2010 Dr. Tomer began his public action in the Manufactures' Association
of Israel. Among other things, he served as a member of the presidency of the Manufactures' Association, the
Chairman of the 'Made in Israel' Council at the MAI, and the Chairman of the Economy and Regulations
Committee in the organization. In 2020, he was elected by a majority of votes to the most senior position of
the organization - the President of the Manufactures' Association, and at the same time, he was elected to
the position of Chairman of the Employers' and Businesses' Organization presidency.
Under his management, the position of the Manufactures' Association strengthened, and today it is
considered the most significant employers' organization in Israel. A variety of economic newspapers have
named Dr. Tomer numerous times for the lists of the most influential persons on the Israeli economy.

Dr. Tomer volunteers frequently and has multiple charity duties. Among other things, he serves on the board
of trustees of the organization "Beit HaGalgalim", which helps people with cerebral palsy, and as a board
member of the organization "Nitsan Horim" which helps parents who are dealing with their children's'
attention disorders.
Dr. Tomer lives in Tel Aviv, he is married to Esti and has three daughters - Amit, Hila and Dana.

Mr. Rony Mann is project manager at AccuBeat LTD since 2012. Rony lead and managed the USO development for the European Space Agency JUICE mission to Jupiter. Rony has an experience of 26 years (1983-2009) in process engineering, Quality and Reliability engineering and project management at Intel chip manufacturing and development. On 2009-2012 Rony found and managed "Solutions group" Where a team of very experienced engineers has lead technical teams to technological solutions by use of innovative inventive methods i.e. TRIZ, TOC.

Roy brings over twenty years of senior-level experience in the communication and semiconductor industries. He has vast experience in silicon development and communication chipset with a strong background in the automotive market, broadband communication, VoIP, and wireless backhaul. Prior to AST, Roy managed Intel’s automotive radar system and architecture within the Automotive business unit. Before that, as VP of Research and Development at SatixFy, he led multidisciplinary groups during the company’s first Satcom product rollout and managed Ceragon Networks Digital, including Mix Signal development.

Roy started his professional career at Texas Instruments, where he led various projects at the DSPS group.

Roy holds a B.Sc. in Communication Engineering from Ben Gurion University and a degree from the Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration at Tel Aviv University.

Born in Istanbul, 1961, Mr. YILDIRIM started his undergraduate education at Istanbul Technical University Aeronautical Engineering Department and graduated from Berlin Technical University Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He completed his master's degree in the field of Aviation and Space Sciences at Berlin Technical University in 1987. He gave airline management lectures at Kadir Has University for five years. He worked in various airline companies in project consultancy and management positions.

He is the Former Director-General of DHMI, State Airports Authority of Türkiye (2015), and the Former Director-General of Aviation and Space Technologies by Ministry of Transport (2018). He has more than thirty years of experience in aerospace most of which is in aviation.

With a Presidential Decree dated August 7, 2019, Mr. Serdar Hüseyin YILDIRIM was appointed as the first president of Turkish Space Agency. Mr. YILDIRIM is fluent in English and German. He is married with four children.

Shimon was born in 1953 in Israel. In 1975 he graduated the Technion as an aeronautical engineer, and In 1994, he graduated the Master of Science in Management (MSM) program of Boston University and Beer-Sheba University.

In 1976 Shimon joined the Israel Air Force (IAF) as a young engineer in design and development of manned and unmanned aircraft, for 28 years of service.

In 1998, the President of Israel decorated Shimon with the Israel Defense Award, for his special contribution to the defense of the state of Israel.

In 2000, Shimon was promoted to Brig. General as the Head of the IAF Material Command, and assumed the responsibility of the entire technical organization of the IAF, under the direct command of the Commander of the Air Force.

In 2004, Shimon retired from service and joined Elbit Systems, as CEO of Silver-Arrow, a subsidiary of Elbit System for unmanned aircraft systems design, production, operation and support. Later on, Shimon served as VP of Operations and VP of advanced unmanned systems development at the unmanned division at Elbit Systems.

In March 2020, Shimon joined Spaceil as the CEO to lead the Beresheet2 lunar landing program.

Dr. Shira Efron is a senior researcher and head of the Climate Change & National Security Program at the Institute for National Security Studies, and a special advisor to Israel’s Ministry of Defense and National Security Council on climate change. She is also an adjunct with the RAND Corporation, where she founded and led the Israel program between 2016-2022. Her research focus is U.S. Middle East policy and the nexus between climate change and national security. Her studies are featured regularly in Israeli and international media outlets. Previously, Dr. Efron was a Middle East analyst at several think tanks in Washington, D.C., including the Center for American Progress and Middle East Institute. She has a PhD and MPhil in policy analysis from RAND’s Graduate School, an MA in international relations/international business from New York University, and a BSc in biology (major) and computer science (minor) from Tel Aviv University. She is a member of Deborah Forum, which promotes women in the security establishment.

Tal Inbar studied Political Science (Bachelor’s degree) and Security Studies (Master’s degree), both in Tel Aviv University, Israel. He started working at the Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies in 2003 and became the director of the institute’s space and UAV research canter in 2007 until the closing of the institute in 2019. He co-founded the international Ilan Ramon Space Conference in 2006. Mr. Inbar follows the space and missile programs of Israel for 30 years and has written numerous articles and op-eds in national and international media. He is a frequent speaker at international conferences, workshops, and seminars. Mr. Inbar contributed to the Space Competitiveness Index (Futron product) and several other classified reports delivered to governmental and industry customers. He is a visiting speaker on various think-tanks and research institutes including RAND, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, Secure World Foundation – to name a few. He is consulting Israeli defense and space companies, and develop[ed the Space and Missile courses for IAI, addressed to engineers. Inbar delivered several congressional briefings on ballistic missile programs of Iran and North Korea. Inbar is also a speaker at various HCoC (Hague Code of Conduct) conferences and presented his findings at a UNIDIR conferences in Geneva. In his daily work, Mr. Inbar covers several space issues such as space policy and technical assessments of foreign space, ballistic missiles and rocket programs of Iran, North Korea, and China, as well as of non-state entities. On May 2021 Inbar joined the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (based in Washington, DC) as a senior research fellow. Inbar is a consultor for the Heinlein Trust Fund and Excalibur-Almaz Inc., both in the US. He is the curator for Israel space week for several years and serves as the national coordinator of the World Space week in Israel for years. Inbar is a member of the History Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics Since 2019 he is a member of the board of D-Mars, Israel's Mars simulations center. He is also a national mentor for "Horizon", the Israel Space Agency community of space educators.

Uri Oron is the Director of the Israel Space Agency, a national agency operating under the auspices of the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology. The Agency is responsible for initiating, leading and coordinating all activities of the civilian space program.

Brigadier General (reserve) Uri Oron is a fighter pilot with command and operational experience of over thirty-two years in the Israel Air Force, having served in various positions, including the head of the Israel Air Force’s Intelligence Directorate and as head of the Israel Defense Force’s Operations Division.

Prior to joining the Israel Space Agency, Mr. Oron managed operations in an Israeli Artificial Intelligence start-up. Mr. Oron has extensive experience in managing complex systems and implementing state-of-the-art technologies, based on broad-scale strategies. He has led innovative projects in the space field in collaboration with the IDF, defense industries, interfacing with the political echelon.

Oron has earned a bachelor’s degree with distinction from Haifa University and is a graduate of Israel's National Security College.

Victor is an expert in System Engineering, Project Management, Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing, Product life cycle management and strategic planning in Space technology domain. He was Instrumental in development and successful missions of heavy life launch vehicle of India, GSLV MkIII. He has taken leadership roles for technology development & management, indigenization and capacity building in space technology & societal applications. He is a recipient of various ISRO awards.

He holds Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and also Masters in Business Administration from University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram,

Yoav is the COO and Co founder of 4M Analytics, whose mission is to create a digital, update to date, trustable and scalable map of subsurface infrastructure. 4M’s Analytics platform is based on AI , Geographical Big data , including data from space,and proprietary mapping algorithms.

Prior to founding 4M, Yoav served in the Israel Defense Intelligence Corps for three decades, as both an operations and technology leader. Yoav’s last role was Chief commander of unit 9900, Israel’s Geospatial Intelligence Agency, in which he led the advancement of the unit into the “New Space” era.

Yoav holds a MPA from the Royal Military College of Canada and B.Sc in civil engineering from the Technion.

Experienced Owner with a demonstrated history of proven technology in Space leading in the biotechnology industry. Led 9 Space missions all around life science and flow chemistry, 28 experiments, and 9 new technologies currently used on earth. Early growth preparative and super dedicated to embedding the technology into the pharmaceutical industry. Four (4) more systems are expected to be launched to orbit LEO during 2023. That will bring the company to 13 launched delicate Organ on-a-chip, Lan on-a-chip, and Liquid handling systems to LEO. All within a full autonomous space bio lab weights 4-5Kg.

Skilled in Negotiation, Business Planning, Company Presentations, Entrepreneurship, and International Business. Strong professional graduated from San Diego, CA, USA (UOP) as well as Tel Aviv University for the Directorate Program.

Walther Pelzer has been a Member of the DLR Executive Board since 1 January 2018. He is Director General of the German Space Agency at DLR, based in Bonn.

Born in 1967, Walther Pelzer studied mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen University. Subsequently he completed his Ph.D. at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology. He also obtained a correspondence MBA from the Universities of Zürich, St. Gallen and Boston. From 1999 to 2007, Pelzer held positions within industry on a national as well as international level, including managerial appointments at Degussa AG (later FERRO Corp.) and Pankl Racing AG. From 2007 to 2015 Pelzer was Director and subsequently Deputy Director General of the Research and Technology Department at the Ministry of Innovation, Science, Research and Technology of the State of North-Rhine Westphalia. He gave a variety of guest lectures and seminars at universities, focusing on the issues of balanced scorecards, technology management, innovations based on technology platforms, and working with subsidiaries in the USA.

Zvica Goltzman – is an experienced manager and entrepreneur with expertise in innovative technologies and multi-disciplinary projects in the medical device and military high-tech sectors, experienced also in strategic and financial planning, multidisciplinary projects leadership, fund-raising and business development processes.

Zvica holds a B.Sc in Electric Engineering and a B.Sc in Science Education from the Technion, and an MBA from Tel Tel-Aviv University.

Zvica previously worked as head of R&D of Elbit System's UAV, and also served for several years in the Israeli's Prime Minister's office. Zvica was also the CEO of Saturix Surgical, a medical device start-up.

For the last 5 years Zvica leads the main R&D Funds of the Israel Innovation Authority, at the last year as acting VP Growth