TECH WEEK | THE FUTURE OF SPACE TECH

The final frontier, outer space, whatever you might call it, the universe and space isn't as mysterious and far away as it once was.

Join us with rocket scientists (literally), entrepreneurs and engineers who are conquering space with rapid innovation and emerging technologies. We'll be discussing:

• Why are we so drawn to space?
• How did they end up in this space?
• What exciting projects they are currently working on
• What kind of technologies they are using build their products
• How you can break into the industry as an employee or entrepreneur

Bidushi Bhattacharya, Ph.D.
CEO & Founder, Astropreneurs HUB, USA & Singapore

Dr. Bidushi Bhattacharya is an ex-NASA scientist-turned-astropreneur with three decades of experience in spacecraft development and operations, NewSpace startup growth, academic administration, scientific research, and technical writing.

She is founder and CEO of Astropreneurs HUB (astropreneurs-hub.com), a Singapore- and US-based startup dedicated to space workforce development for professionals and students. Her team provides hands-on training using CubeSats and International Space Station research labs.

Her previous experience includes over two decades with NASA as a scientist and engineer. She has analyzed and synthesized technical information and played a key role in fostering communication between academic and industrial teams with varying priorities and work cultures, both within the US and overseas. NASA projects have included the Hubble Space Telescope, the Mars Rover Program, the Galileo Mission to Jupiter, the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, and others.

Dr. Bhattacharya also has experience in higher education research development and established the Office of Sponsored Research for science programs at Claremont McKenna, Pitzer and Scripps Colleges, in Claremont, California, where she increased federal award rates by 67% and managed $4 million in active grants.

Dr. Bhattacharya serves on advisory boards for a number of space-related organizations, including Global Entrepreneurship Network - Space (https://www.genglobal.org/gen-space).

Dr. Bhattacharya holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in space physics from UCLA as well as dual degrees from Rutgers University, a B.S. in mechanical engineering and a B.A. in physics.

Christian Thaler-Wolski
Investor & Advisor at Precious Payload and Investor & Mentor, Moonshot

Christian is a startup advisor to early and growth-stage entrepreneurs. Previously Christian was in Venture Capital at Wellington Partners in London and Munich, as well as Paua Ventures in Berlin. Previous to his investor role he had a successful five-year career in technical product sales and key account management at ORACLE, the global leader in enterprise software. Christian is a graduate of ISU and the MBA program at INSEAD and recently relocated to Adelaide.

Troy McCann
Founder, Moonshot

During university, where he studied computer science and electrical engineering, Troy mixed his passions for technology and entrepreneurship through multiple engineering-heavy businesses. Using his experiences in commercialising deep research and the space industry, Troy began to develop a framework for supporting the growth of commercial solutions to humanity’s most difficult challenges while assembling a community around it, forming the basis for Moonshot.

Today, Moonshot is a global catalyst for humanity to enrich and expand our world inward and outward. It grows and invests in technology businesses that leverage and integrate frontier locations into our world - from physical spaces to cyberspace.

Troy was ranked the 13th most influential global new space business leader of the sector in the NewSpace People Global Ranking Report for 2020.

Shoaib Iqbal
CEO, Esper Satellite Imagery

Shoaib Iqbal, CEO at Esper Satellite Imagery, is a 3-time startup founder who’s worked on companies in MedTech and Energy and has worked as a Payload Engineer across 2 high-powered rocket teams building sub-orbital scientific payloads for rockets. Shoaib’s academic background is specialised in Space Science and Engineering. Shoaib is also a hackathon veteran with one of his earlier companies receiving funding from the Saudi Arabian government through the MiSK Hackathon in 2016 and the Esper team being the winners of the UniHack 2019 under his leadership.

Content provided by General Assembly.