Co Founder and CEO of Helios, developing technologies to extract oxygen and metals on the lunar and Martian surfaces to refuel spacecrafts and establish extraterrestrial infrastructure. Helios is currently onboard three missions to the moon in the coming years to develop and demonstrate its capabilities. Jonathan has spent nearly a decade in the Israeli armed forces in combatant positions, and later established two companies in the realms of product design, manufacturing and logistics in Israel, Europe and the USA. In the last five years he has been working to develop Helios to enable humanity's expansion beyond earth.

Mr. Umamaheswaran R, has made significant contribution to the system integration, checkout and avionics of ISRO’s launch vehicles viz PSLV, GSLV & GSLV-Mk III. He has been the Chief Designer (Integration) of major subassemblies including Equipment Bay of the Launch vehicle. Many of the mission critical circuits residing in the vehicle including the entire pyro chain for all the three launch vehicles has been designed by him. He completed B Tech in Electronics & Communication Engineering (1985) MS in Software System (2007) and MA in Russian Language (1996). He joined VSSC in 1987. Over the years, he has evolved as a domain expert in the field of system electrical integration, checkout, ground station and avionics. He was also the Vehicle Director for the remarkably successful GSLV D5/GSAT-14 Mission with the indigenous cryo stage. He took over the assignment of Project Director, GSLV with effect from July 1, 2014. As Mission Director of the GSLV-D6, GSLV F05 & GSLV F09 Missions, he led the entire ISRO Team and successfully accomplished the missions. He also led the Operational Launch Vehicle Team of Avionics Production, Hardware Production, Structural analysis and Control guidance to enable & successfully deliver the products for the increased frequency of PSLV, GSLV and GSLV Mk III missions. As DD, AVN, he led a team of young enterprising Engineers, for the development of miniaturized avionics, Electro Mechanical Actuation Systems in L40, GS2 & S200 EGC systems. From May 4th 2018 onwards, he has taken charge as Associate Scientific Secretary, ISRO HQ and as Scientific Secretary, ISRO from August 1st onwards. He is the current Chair of the Long Term Sustainability (LTS) working group of the STSC of UNCOPUOS. He became a Member for Section 2 on Engineering Sciences of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) in 2021. He has been awarded ISRO Individual Merit Award-2013, ISRO Team Award-2006 (PSLV), 2014 (GSLV) and ISRO Outstanding Achievement Award (2018). He also received the ASI-ISRO Award for the year 2016. He is Fellow of Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI) and Astronautical Society of India(ASI), Life Member of Systems Society of India (SSI) and Indian Society for Advancement of Materials and Process Engineering (ISAMPE). He is recipient of Honoris Causa from the Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai (2019).

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 the area of design and development of manned and unmanned aircraft. 

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.

This panel will discuss advances in satellites and space services, from business, technology and policy perspectives

Opher has been CEO of EVR Motors, an Israeli startup, since November 2019. He leads a team developing advanced electric motors for electric vehicles, 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. During his tenure at IAI he revamped the satellite lineup to include a variety of small and sophisticated satellites, upgraded operating and QA processes and widened the customer base. Previously Opher managed the Tactical Systems Division at Ness TSG, where he led software teams in developing and delivering tactical Command and Control Systems. Opher was also director of marketing at IAI Missile division, where he led global marketing activities leading to several large programs. Until 2002 Opher served in the Israel Navy in a variety of operational and staff positions. He commanded 3 missile boats, a Saar 5 corvette and the Saar 5 squadron. He held several positions in the operational requirements department, including head of operational requirements. Opher still serves in reserve duty and holds the rank of Rear Admiral.

He started his higher education at Technical University of Istanbul (ITU). He had his master's degree from Technical University of Berlin for Aerospace Technologies. He has more than thirty years of experience in aerospace most of which is in aviation. He taught for five years as a lecturer at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. He is the Former Director-General of DHMI, State Airports Authority of Turkey, and the Former Director-General of Aviation and Space Technologies by Ministry of Transport. He has been the President of the newly established Turkish Space Agency since August 2019.

This panel focuses on the increasing privatization of space stations. Experts will discuss what it takes to launch an object in to space, from the regulations and money to the science and engineering.

Ran has been the Director-General at the Ramon Foundation since June 2015. During his tenure at the Foundation, it transformed from a small nonprofit to one of Israel’s most prominent nonprofits and a significant cornerstone in the Israeli space eco-system. Ran led the Foundation to support the growth of the Israeli space eco-system, facilitating major space conferences, meetups, executive space course, and innovation workshops. These events and other networking platforms position the Foundation as the ‘gateway’ to the Israeli space sector. As of August 2021, the Foundation has over 95 employees and a yearly budget of around 100 Mil. Nis. Aside from its spacetech activities, Foundation also operates education programs and teachers training in Israel, Southeast Asia, Africa & South America. In 2021 the Foundation signed a contract with Eytan Stibbe & Axiom space. It became the first nonprofit ever to lead a crewed space mission as part of the AX1 mission. Ran has been involved with Social entrepreneurship since 2008 and demonstrated successful history of managing, developing, planning, and executing international projects. Prior to his work at the Foundation, Ran worked for 3.5 years as the head of business development at the strategic consulting company T.A.R.A. Ran has consulted leading public enterprises in Israel: local communities, Institutions of higher education, Hospitals, and Nonprofit organizations. Ran was the Chairman of the student union in Tel-Aviv university till 2011 and as a member of the governing council of the national association of Israeli students. Among the rest, Ran was one of the founders of the entrepreneurship center in Tel-Aviv University and initiated the Housing Scholarship Fund of the Tel Aviv municipality. Ran was the Chairman of the board of “Dyonun” and established the community interest company – “Xtra Student.” Ran is an international space university alumni (ESC 2019), he has a BA in Sociology and Literature from Tel-Aviv University, MBA in Business Management-Global strategy from IDC Herzliya, and graduated from the Grubb institution’s Leadership program in London, Aside from his work at the Ramon Foundation, Ran was also a faculty member at the academic program – Global Consulting Practicum at the IDC Herzliya and Wharton school for business management in the USA. Ran is also a board member of 3 different organizations.

Tom is the lead system engineer for the UltraSat project. Tom is a young
professional working in IAI for the past 7 years. Prior to that Tom served in the
IDF as a military intelligence officer at the satellite data collection unit 9900.

Tom holds a BSc in Physics (summa cum laude), a second BSc in Mathematics
and an MSc in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, all from the Tel Aviv
university.

This panel focuses on the commercial development of human life on space through nutrition, life support and medicine.

Reut Sorek Abramovich, PhD, is a researcher at the Dead Sea and Arava Science Centre, under the auspices of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. Her interests include extremeophiles from arid environemnts, cross contamination issues in space missions, and most recently sustainable use of hydrazine and other rocket fuels using algae and bacteria from the Dead Sea. Reut has co-founded 2 space related NGOs in Israel (the Israeli Mars Society and Desert Mars Analog Ramon Station), managed the Young Astronaut Academy Program, and also worked for the Israel National Covid-19 Consortium, at Shamir Medical Center, employing advanced biological and technological tools to monitor the spread of the pandemic in Israel. Reut has been an International Space University core lecturer for the Space Studies Program on Astrobiology and in 2020 Reut was invited to participate in the US department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP).