Living Planet Talks @LPS22

Elodie Viau joined ESA as Director of Telecommunications and Integrated Applications from 1 September 2020. For 12 years prior to this, Ms Viau worked for SES. As Vice-President for Technology Program Management, she led new space segment development as well as end-to-end system design and implementation of new integrated services. Previously, she was the SES Program Manager of nine satellites built by Airbus. She gained two MSc: respectively from Télécom Sud Paris and from the International Space University complemented by an MBA from the Open University.

Space Engineer, NewSpace Entrepreneur, TEDx & Public Speaker.

Bianca Cefalo is the Co-founder & CEO of Space DOTS Ltd (UK), and Director of Aerospace & Defense at Carbice (US).

Former Space Systems Product Manager at Airbus Defence and Space UK, leading disruptive innovation roadmaps for Next Gen Telecommunication Spacecraft.

Born in Naples, Italy, she graduated in Aerospace and Astronautical Engineering at the University of Naples ‘Federico II’, specialising in Spacecraft Systems, Hypersonic Aerodynamics, Microgravity and Satellite Remote Sensing.

At 23yo she moved to Berlin, Germany, becoming the youngest Italian analyst assigned to the HP3 Instrument on the NASA/JPL Insight Mars Mission, landed on Mars in 2018.

To date, Bianca has worked for more than a decade in the satellites’ innovation industry, leading development of advanced space thermal management solutions, and contributing to the delivery of multiple spacecraft platforms sponsored by NASA, ESA, DLR, UKSA and EU.

Bianca is a firm advocate of Equality and Humankind Evolution through Space Exploration and exponential space-tech advancement, and in Jul ’20 she founded Cosmica Space Consulting Ltd, co-producing creative Sci-pop & Scicomm projects to inspire and empower the next generation of women tech pioneers.

Bianca also serves as Space Entrepreneurship Mentor at the ‘EIIS – European Institute of Innovation for Sustainability’ and Artemis Adviser at Lunargistics US.

Prof. Walter Peeters is the President-Emeritus of the International Space University (ISU), Strasbourg, France. In his career he initially covered management positions in the construction and petrochemical industries, joining in 1983 the European Space Agency (ESA) where he was in charge of project control functions and became Head of the Coordination Office of the European Astronaut Center in Cologne.

He joined ISU in 2000 as professor in Space Business and Management, nominated Dean in 2005 and became President in 2011, then President Emeritus since 2018. He was also founding director of the International Institute of Space Commerce.

He advises government organizations (Estonia, Australia, Ireland, Oman) on space activities and creation of national space agencies. He is a full member of the International Academy of Astronautics, and Knight in the Legion of Honor (Légion d’Honneur) in France. He is member of the editorial board of several space journals.

He obtained Bachelor degrees in engineering and applied economics (Catholic University of Louvain), a Master of Business Administration (Louvain, Cornell University) and a Ph.D. in Industrial Organization (TU Delft, the Netherlands, Aerospace Faculty). He authored over 90 articles on incentive contracting, project management, space commercialization and NewSpace Economy, the book Space Marketing (Kluwer, 2000) and an IAA Report on Suborbital Spaceflight (IAA, 2014).

His present focus is on NewSpace research and entrepreneurship amongst others leading a space incubator at ISU and supporting start-ups on business plan development and financing.

Born in 1963, Paolo Minciacchi joined Telespazio in 1990. Graduated in Electronic Engineering, in his firsts years in Telespazio he managed several important space missions such as ITALSAT, SAX, SICRAL. In 2002 entered in the Earth Observation business, holding several roles in the Programs & Application domain. In 2009 he steps on as Head of Operational Planning, Industrial Management and Value Added Production at e-GEOS, the ASI/Telespazio joint venture. In 2011 joined Spaceopal (the DLR GfR/Telespazio joint venture) as technical director. At the end 2016 he won the GSOp (Galileo Service Operator Contract) in the Spaceopal team and in 2018 he became CEO of the Spaceopal. In 2020, is appointed CEO of e-GEOS and Head Geo Information LoB of Telespazio.

Sarah Parcak, is an Archaeologist and Egyptologist and has worked on excavations in 14 countries across the globe since 1999.

Sarah attended Yale University for her BA, and received her M.Phil and PhD degrees from Cambridge University in the UK in 2005. Sarah is a Professor in the Dept of Anthropology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she has worked since 2006.

Sarah is the author of Satellite Remote Sensing For Archaeology (Routledge 2009) and Archaeology from Space: How the Future Shapes Our Past (Henry Holt 2019), which won the Phi Beta Kappa 2020 Book Award for Science, as well as many peer-reviewed academic papers.  She is a National Geographic Society Explorer, a Young Global Leader, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a TED Senior Fellow, winner of the 2016 TED Prize, 2016 recipient of the Smithsonian Institute American Ingenuity Award, a 2018 recipient of the Explorer’s Club Lowell Thomas Award, and a 2020 recipient of the Roy Chapman Andrews Society Distinguished Explorer’s Award.

Sarah serves as the Founder and President of Globalxplorer, a non-profit dedicated to using cutting edge technologies to protect and preserve cultural heritage. She co-directs the Joint Lisht Mission with Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities, which focuses on the excavation and survey of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom capital. Her research has been featured in multiple BBC-Discovery Channel and PBS-Nova documentaries. Sarah’s work as an archaeologist specializes in the use of diverse space and aerial-based platforms to map and model ancient landscapes. 

Massimo Claudio Comparini, former CEO at eGeos since 2016 and Director Line of Business Geo Information at Telespazio, has a long and proven track record in space industry, from technology to services, and in the earth observation domain. Massimo holds a Master Degree in Electrical Engineering, Remote Sensing and Radar Systems, University of Rome La Sapienza (Italy), and a Degree in Strategy from Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, CA (USA). He started his career in 1983 at Selenia Spazio (later Alenia Spazio), holding various management positions, up to the role of Chief Technology Officer. In 2013 he was appointed CTO of Telespazio, a joint venture between Leonardo (67%) and Thales (33%). In 2016 he became the CEO of eGeos, an ASI (20%) and Telespazio (80%) company, an established international leader in the Earth Observation and Geo-Spatial Information, and, in his role, Chairman of GAF and EarthLab Luxembourg. He is also an expert member on the Advisory Board of the Centre for Advanced Studies, Research and Development in Sardinia (CSR4).

Wojtek is an investment director at a leading European Deep-Tech VC fund OTB Ventures, mentor and advisor to early-stage and fast-growing technology companies. One of key focus areas of OTB Ventures is SpaceTech / NewSpace, the fund is an early backer of Iceye, Hydrosat and SpaceKnow. His previous experience includes MCI Capital, where he managed investments in early- and growth-stage digital startups, and McKinsey & Company, where he managed digital transformation, strategy and transaction projects.

As a Harvard Business School alumnus (MBA 2014) Wojtek serves on the Board of Harvard Club of Poland and is a Director of “Path to Harvard” competition, which aims to find and mentor most talented Polish youth.

Avid traveler searching for the best street food in the world, keen student of geopolitics, military special operations, social psychology and everything technology-related.

Dr. Craig Donlon received a Ph.D. Oceanography (1994) Department of Oceanography, University of Southampton, UK .  In 2008 he joined the European Space Agency as the Principal Scientist for Oceans and Ice at the Earth Observation Programmes Directorate based at ESTEC, the Netherlands.  Craig is the Mission Scientist for the Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer (CIMR), Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-6 Missions. He has worked in many different areas of satellite oceanography including the Ocean Forecasting Division at the Met Office UK, at the University of Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research (CCAR) and at the European Commission Joint Research Centre, Italy.