IAF Emerging Space Leaders 2018

The IAF is proud to introduce the 2018 IAF Emerging Space Leaders!

These 25 students and young professionals were chosen by the Emerging Space Leaders Steering Committee composed of nine higly experienced space stakeholders. They will fly off to Bremen in September 2018 to participate in the IAC and have the opportunity to extend their network, gain knowledge and meet space experts!

Akshata Krishnamurthy

Akshata Krishnamurthy is a fourth year PhD Candidate in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, specializing in Space Systems Engineering. For her doctoral dissertation, she is developing an end-to-end framework for the characterization of detector systematics for space telescopes. As part of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Science Team, she is developing novel tools and techniques for the validation and improvement of the photometric performance of the mission. She was awarded the Schlumberger Faculty for the Future Fellowship for five consecutive years (2014-2019), the 2017 Luigi G. Napolitano Award by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and more recently, the 2018 Zonta Amelia Earhart Fellowship.

Amr Elhussein

Amr Elhussein is a Mechanical Design engineer from Sudan. He received his Bachelor degree from University of Khartoum. Amr Got the prize of the best graduation project on his final year project “Design and manufacturing of a 3 axis low-cost CNC router”. During his studies, Amr founded “Mech Expo” an annual engineering exhibition held by the mechanical engineering department to help inspire the young generations. He also co-founded the first student chapter of the Institution of mechanical engineers (IMechE) and currently, he serves as the First Sudan Young Member Representative.

Amr is interested in areas like robotics and space structures, following his graduation Amr worked at the space research center at University of Khartoum. His research was focusing on the UokSat structure optimization with the aid of 3d printing. During the IAC 2018 in Bremen Amr will present his work on “Topology optimization of UoKSat3”.Through his research, Amr is aiming to help reduce the cost associated with the development of CubeSats to be accessible for the developing countries.

Anastasia Stepanova

Anastasia Stepanova is junior researcher at Institute of Biomedical Problems of Russian Academy of Science, studies Robotics as her second degree at Bauman Moscow State Technical University, space journalist, member of Mars Society, first responder at volunteer search and rescue squad SpasRezerv. Anastasia was crewmember at unique twin study Mars analogue mission “Mars160” in Utah desert and Devon island (Arctic). The international team Mars160 carried out Mars-relevant microbiological, geological, psychological and engineering researches. Anastasia designated as crew journalist, health and safety officer and assistant to microbiologist. In addition, she conducted tests for the research “Cognitive psychology and the psychology of small groups” by Institute of Biomedical Problems RAS.

Anastasia has master degree in Journalism at Moscow State University, spent four years at school of space journalism with Russian cosmonaut Yuriy Baturin. Together with two other journalists she wrote the book about cosmonautics “I wish you a good flight”.

Anastasia dedicates her free time to educational projects, such as organizing summer space camps, giving the public talks in schools, universities and space conferences.

Antonio Caiazzo

“I am Antonio Caiazzo, aerospace engineer with several work experiences all around the world in the frame of space debris mitigation and remediation activities for the ESA clean space initiative and space sustainability, where the international cooperation plays a crucial role.”

Ashwati Das

Ashwati Das is a Ph.D student at Purdue University (USA). Her research seeks to exploit artificial intelligence to address the challenge that infinite trade-spaces present to constructing trajectory solutions. Specifically, she blends Artificial Neural Networks and Reinforcement Learning with traditional design techniques, to aid in path-planning focused on an efficient transport architecture for near-term activities to the Moon. She has contributed to trade-studies for the Mars Sample Return concept and Europa Lander studies at NASA JPL, evolved rapid trajectory design frameworks with NASA Goddard, and is currently working with NASA Marshall on a systemsbased mission architecture analysis for a return to the Moon and onwards to Mars. Space inspires her to think beyond herself – with its broad-ranging impacts and ability to unite the world to push the boundaries of the unknown. She hopes to give back by leading missions as well as helping steer the vision for growth in the industry. She is passionate about collaborations on multiple fronts, and believes that strong international relationships, industry-government-academia partnerships, and human-robot synergy bears the potential to catalyze the space economy and broaden its humanitarian impact. As President of the Purdue Mars Society student organization, she advocates for such efforts by facilitating inter-disciplinary events on campus, to outreach with children, inspiring them to learn about and join the space journey. She hopes to continue to develop the technical knowledge, a global understanding of stakeholder perspectives, and leadership skills, to become a dependable leader and help expand human presence beyond Earth.

Barret Schlegelmilch

Barret Schlegelmilch is a new graduate of the MIT Leaders for Global Operations program with an MBA and masters in astronautical engineering and a former U.S. Navy nuclear submarine officer originally from Brussels, Belgium. He will be joining Blue Origin’s Advanced Development Programs division after completing the 2018 International Space University Space Studies Program this summer. Barret’s passion is working towards the future of humanity being an interplanetary species, and he still has the dream of becoming an astronaut one day. His hobbies include ultramarathons, exploring remote locations (most recently the North Pole and a marathon in Antarctica), and drumming.

Dante Bolatti

Dante Bolatti is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Ryerson University in Toronto (Canada). He is currently a member of the Ryerson Aerospace Control Systems research group (RACS), where he is performing research on the topics of spacecraft dynamics, guidance, navigation and control (DGNC) for asteroid exploration, having presented results from this research at international conferences.

Dante received a B.Eng. in Electronics Engineering from the National University of Rosario (Argentina) in 2011. He has more than eight years of industry experience in safety-critical electronics systems. He is a student member of the American Institute of Aeronautics (AIAA), and of the American Astronautical Society (AAS). In addition, Dante is also a graduate student member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), where he volunteered during 2016 and 2017 as Vice-Chair in the Toronto chapter of the Aerospace and Electronics Systems Society (AESS). In this role, he contributed to the planning and execution of aerospace events open to the academic, general and professional public.

He strongly believes that for humans to colonize Mars in the upcoming decades, several complex challenges will need to be solved, and the only path to achieve this is through international collaboration. For this reason, he considers that increasing international public awareness of space exploration is critical towards this goal, and that the contribution of expertise from each country will be the most efficient way to enhance manned and robotic space exploration in the near future.

Ekaterina Timakova

“I am a final-year student of the Aerospace department of Bauman State Technical University.

Since 2015, I am a member of the BMSTU Youth Space Center (YSC). In 2016, I started working with a team of students and graduates on the nanosatellite maneuver device on the base of the solar sail. The project helped a lot to get practical experience in space technology and was awarded the first prize in the Sino-Russian Satellite Students Innovation Design Contest. It inspired our team to develop the device, so today we work on the nanosatellite constellation for solar activity research in cooperation with the Physical Institute of Russian Academy of Science.

In the last three years, I have been taking part in many space-related conferences, exhibitions and nanosatellite sessions, where I presented our ideas to national and international experts and learned the last news and trends of space industry. I also had a chance to participate in the “Space Station Design Workshop” (Stuttgart, Germany) and schools “Space Development: Theory and Practice” held both in Moscow and Houston, where I got unforgettable experience of cooperation and working in an international team. Besides, I enjoy sharing knowledge with younger students and high scholars visiting YSC and try to motivate them to be involved in space educational projects.

My dream is to become a part of one big International and intercultural team that will expand the role of nanosatellites and their constellations and makes them even more competitive comparing to big spacecraft.”

Elizabeth Barrios

Elizabeth Barrios is currently a materials engineer working at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and a PhD NASA Space Technology Fellow at the University of Central Florida. With a passion for advancing the technical capability of space exploration, her current work focuses on the development of lightweight, Earth-abundant materials for energy generation and storage applications. This interest in lightweight materials has also led to her involvement in the fabrication of the Advanced Plant Habitat, recently installed on the International Space Station. In the past, Elizabeth has worked on multiple NASA projects, across the agency, including lightweight patch antennas (NASA Glenn Research Center) and in-situ resource utilization (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center). Elizabeth’s interests also reach into engaging with the public and mentoring the younger generation in the field of aerospace exploration. As such, she was selected to become a NASA Student Ambassador in 2012, received full sponsorship from NASA’s Office of Education to attend the 2017 IAC and serve as a NASA delegate, and helped organize the Young Professionals IPMC Workshop at the 2018 IAC, among many other outreach activities. With a newfound interest in the global space network, her hope is to take her experience as an engineer and her passion of advancing spaceflight while involving younger generations and manifest it into a platform that can both mentor and guide future engineers and scientists in the aerospace industry. Her other interests include traveling and learning about new cultures, weightlifting, and going to the ballet.

Esteban Martínez

Esteban Martínez is an electronic engineer who is currently pursuing MSc in Embebbed Systems at the Costa Rica Institute of Technology (TEC) in San Jose, Costa Rica. His main interest and main research is the Store & Forward systems for remote sensing in small satellites as CubeSats. In the Space Systems Laboratory (SETEC-Lab), he worked as the telecommunications engineer in the Irazú Project, the first satellite in Central America that aims to monitor the carbon dioxide fixation in the Costa Rica’s forests. After integrating and long-distance testing of the communications subsystems of the flight and ground segments, he went to the Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech) in Japan to perform the satellite environmental tests and get the certification for the ISS launch with JAXA.

He was part of the International Workshop of Lean Satellite (IWLS) in 2018 organized by Kyutech, where he had the opportunity of participating in the First Ground Station Operation Workshop for the BIRDS project, consisting of a ground station network with more than 13 countries involved.

In collaboration with George Washington University (GWU) and TEC, he is working on the GW-CubeSat secondary mission: contribute to the preservation of the biodiversity and hydrological equilibrium of the Costa Rican wetlands by improving their remote sensing network.

Esteban is a space enthusiast, and with his research in the field of telecommunications, he hopes to enable universities, developing countries, and smaller organizations to partake in the exploration of space.

Karl Domjahn

Karl Domjahn is a Graduate Mechanical Systems Engineer at Boeing Defence Australia, working on an upgrade to the 737 Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control aircraft. After graduating from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor and Master of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (University Medalist 2017), Karl was named as the only Australian in the 2017 US Aviation Week and AIAA’s “Tomorrow’s Engineering Leaders: The 20 Twenties”, an international award recognising the future leaders of the aerospace industry. Key events leading up to this award included undertaking his Master Thesis at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in Munich, representing the youth perspective as the National Secretary and Queensland Representative of the Australian Youth Aerospace Association, and studying on exchange at Purdue University in the USA.

Although Karl’s current passions lie within the technical realm of launch and transportation, he has strong desires to explore and understand the interactions between the technology, policy and business drivers. He believes that the world is on the cusp of a second space race, however this time it is being driven by commercialisation. Within this new economy, governments and space agencies should play a guiding role, advocating for global regulatory frameworks that allow the commercial sector to innovate and grow whilst still maintaining minimum standards for safety and security. Although creating this framework may be difficult, Karl firmly believes open collaboration between governments, agencies and the private sector will aid to bring the right expertise and knowledge to the table to generate a solution.

Ksenia Lisitsyna

Ksenia grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia. After graduating from the Baltic State Technical University, she got her master’s degree in Sustainable Development at the University of Nordland in Northern Norway.

Currently, she is a business development lead in Precious Payload – a US-based startup that has built an online booking system for small satellites. There she works on the development of a marketplace for launch providers, satellite manufacturers, insurance brokers, and integrators. The team advocates for adopting standard procedures for the launch search and integration process to reduce the amount of time required for the prelaunch activities. Using this platform, all the market players can meet each other’s needs in a more efficient way increasing market transparency and accessibility. The booking system aims to bring more clarity for the users from space-faring nations and awareness of the market opportunities for newcomers.

As a side project in 2018, she is participating in the research conducted together with the European Space Policy Institute. It resulted in publishing a report on Russia’s modern posture in space followed by an online course with the same topic coming up in July 2018.

Being a member of the Russian North-West Federation of Cosmonautics and representing SGAC in her home country Ksenia is taking part in space outreach activities. She is covering such topics as legal aspects of international activities and capacity building in space-related projects and helping students and young professionals to find their way to the space industry.

Marco Alejandro Murillo Alcocer

Marco Alejandro Murillo Alcocer obtained his BSc in Electrical Engineering from the North Dakota State University, USA on a full scholarship, his focus of study during that time was communications and signal processing. He was selected to be part of a government project and receive a specialization for a year, by the China Academy of Space Technology, in ground satellite control and operation. After placing on the top of the program, currently he holds the position of Communications Payload Team Leader for the Bolivian Space Agency, which he has been working for almost 5 years. His main functions at the agency include managing and operating the communications payload of TKSAT-1 satellite, and developing new projects for telecommunications inclusion throughout the national satellite. During his time at the agency he has participated actively in different activities related to the space field, as a speaker in satellite seminars, post-graduate courses and vocational orientations. By being an active researcher and a semi-autodidact in his field, he intends to play a great role to the development of his country’s space and satellite industry.

Monique Hollick

“I am a Space Systems Engineer in the Small Satellite Experimentation Team at Defence Science and Technology Group (DST Group) in Edinburgh, Australia. During my 18 months in this role, I have been involved with several aspects of spacecraft testing, ground station development, and spacecraft operations and operational analysis associated with the Buccaneer Risk Mitigation Mission – DST Group’s first satellite in 50 years.

I hold First-Class Honours in both Mechanical Engineering and Physics from the University of Western Australia. After working in the mining industry for two and a half years, I completed a Masters of Engineering Science in Satellite Systems (with Excellence) at the University of New South Wales and became the first graduate of the program. My childhood passion for space was reignited through my Physics Honours studies, in which my thesis project involved analysis of Apollo Dust Detector Experiment data and collaboration with an ex-Apollo Principal Investigator. This research produced a paper published in Space Weather (for which I was lead author) and presented at the Lunar and Small Bodies Graduate Conference at NASA Ames in 2014.

I am very proud to be involved in the space industry at a time where space is becoming increasingly accessible and collaborative. I intend to use my science literacy and communication skills, with the recent bolstering of the Australian space industry and the Australian space agency, to inspire more young Australians to pursue careers in space and other STEM fields.”

Onur Celik

Onur is a PhD candidate in space and astronautical science as a Japanese government scholarship holder. He is specialized in spacecraft mission and trajectory design, particularly in interplanetary medium and in complex dynamical environments, such as those found in small bodies. His experience ranges from trajectory optimization to asteroid surface exploration. Through his research, he is currently involved in multiple JAXA missions, such as Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) to Phobos and DESTINY+ to asteroid Phaethon. Prior to Japan, he completed his bachelor’s degree in astronautical engineering at Istanbul Technical University (2013). Then, he received a double degree from Cranfield University (UK) and Luleå University of Technology (Sweden) within Erasmus Mundus Master Course in Space Science and Technology (SpaceMaster) programme, with the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship and the SpaceMaster prize from Cranfield University. During his master’s studies, he had a chance to take part in high altitude balloon experiment programme for student (BEXUS) organized by ESA/DLR, in which a rover was teleoperated from the balloon to mimic future exploration on the Martian surface. Thanks to this multicultural and interdisciplinary background, Onur has equipped himself with significant knowledge and experience on the space exploration and its societal impacts. Through employing this and the ESL experience, He hopes to become a bridge between emerging countries and the international space community for the development of space activities and inspire people to follow their dreams in space.

Paola Escobari Vargas

Paola Escobari Vargas is an electronic engineer graduated from the Higher University of San Andrés in Bolivia and holding a MSc in radiofrequency and microwave engineering from the University of Surrey (England), she is also alumni of the scholarships for a training in de China Academy of Space Technologies as part of the first Bolivian satellite TKSAT-1 of the Bolivian government, and a Chevening alumni.

She currently works as a Teleport Engineer for the Bolivian Space Agency and works also as a lecturer in the electronics engineering faculty of the Higher University of San Andrés, she is part of several volunteering bodies as the IEEE in Bolivia, the SGAC as NPoC and others with social focus.

Prabin Gyawali

Prabin Gyawali is currently a third year undergraduate student of Geomatics Engineering at Kathmandu University, Nepal. He is a dedicated space enthusiast and researcher working to promote space education and the development of space technology in his country and take it to global race. He has participated in various space events inside and outside the country. His researches mainly focus on the use of navigation technology for the emerging countries like Nepal. He likes exploring the application of navigation technologies. He also conducts small talk programs and interactions with the upcoming generations about the space science and its importance in Nepalese society. He believes changes can be made through the small steps.

As, the part of his study, Mr. Gyawali is involved in use of various surveying technologies based on Remote Sensing and navigation technology. He loves using the advanced navigation technologies for land surveying. He is interested in pursuing his master’s degree in Navigation technology and their applications.

Roman Mykhalchyshyn

Roman Mykhalchyshyn was born and raised in Dnipro city, Ukraine. He started his space engineering studies in 2006 at Dnipro National University, he focused on the propulsion systems and improving their efficiency. Roman’s work experience started in 2012, since then he has been working in Yuzhnoye State Design Office. He took part in such projects as Cyclone-4, Cyclone-4M, Zenit, Antares etc.

Roman is a PhD student, his work consists in the pneumatic and hydraulic systems improvement of launch vehicle. This work is considered as highly important and topical, as its materials allow improving the performance of launch vehicles. The second important area of his researches is the study of the features of methane as a fuel for launch vehicles.

Roman is active member of Space Generation Advisory Council, from July 2018 is a National Point of Contact in Ukraine. He was awarded as a finalist of the SingularityU Kyiv Global Impact Challenge 2017, the best worker of Ukraine space industry 2016.

He assumes the most important problems of XXI century is global climate changing. An aspect of particular concern is total growth of earthquakes, storm cyclones, tsunamis, hurricanes and other natural disasters that prevails in last decade. Roman believes space technologies will be able to help to save more lives in case of such disasters. International collaboration is crucial for success in this direction.

Samantha Le May

Samantha is currently a PhD candidate at RMIT University and the Space Environment Research Centre (SERC), in Australia. Her research is in the field of Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space Traffic Management (STM), and aims to curate a unique dataset which pools together multiple SSA-related data types from the Web. The motivation for her work is to support safe operations alongside increased participation in the space sector driven by the innovative technologies and business models that are continuing to reduce the cost of launch and manufacture of space infrastructure. Samantha is a member of the IAA Permanent Committee on Space Debris, and the IAF Committee on Space Security, and has a keen interest in the legal, political and security issues related to space debris and the broader field of STM. She is grateful for the opportunity to attend the IAC in Bremen as part of the Emerging Space Leaders programme and network with the international community of experts in space operations. “As a PhD student, I want to ensure that my work is not only contributing to human knowledge, but that it has direct applications in addressing the needs of space operations. This is not possible without actively engaging with the community that attend the annual IAC.”

Shambo Bhattacharjee

“Currently, I am a PhD research student at the University of Leeds. The theme of my research is space debris and the objective is to develop improved methods to track space debris based on directional statistics. I am in the department of Statistics and my supervisor is Prof. John T. Kent. The project is funded by the U.S.A Air Force Office of Scientific Research. We have already published several research papers. Recently I have been selected to present my research work at the Parliament. Before joining the University of Leeds, I worked as a project associate at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), India. At the PRL, my work was based on analyzing crater formation under microgravity conditions. I did my masters from the International Space University and I was selected to do my internship at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) under the supervision of Dr. Marc Kuchner. At the GSFC, I worked on a citizen science project named “Disk Detective” and my key contributions were correcting inaccurate WISE-4 magnitudes for disk detective objects (around 273,000 objects), modelling SED plots and classifying debris disks and other objects discovered with the WISE. Our team also won the “Robert H. Goddard Honor Award for Exceptional Achievement in Outreach”. In addition to my PhD study, I am a volunteer project leader of the SGAC space debris project group. Some of my other interests are machine learning, image processing and computer programming.”

Siti Amalina Enche Ab Rahim

Siti Amalina received her Diplôme d’Ingénieur from École Nationale Supérieure d’Electronique et de Radioélectricité de Grenoble, France and her Doctor of Engineering from Kyushu University, Japan, both in electronics engineering, in 2008 and 2017, respectively. She is currently a lecturer at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia and also a research coordinator at Center for Satellite Communication, UiTM. Her current project is the development of ground communication system for the first UiTM’s nanosatellite, which is a collaboration project with other universities from Japan, Bhutan and Philippines. As a beginner in space and satellite technology, she believes in teamwork, where, the development of space research activities in Malaysia can be accelerated when every party works in a team. For that reason, collaborations or partnerships, both national and international, are important.

Oniosun Temidayo

Oniosun is currently the Regional Coordinator (Africa) for Space Generation Advisory Council of the United Nations where he is leading African Students and Young Professionals in the creation of International Space Policy, ensuring their opinion is heard in key policy making at the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.

He has been listed as one of the World 24 Under 24 Leaders and Innovators in SPACE and STEAM by The Mars Generation and by BellaNaija as one of the 25 under 25 Nigerians who are influencing and disrupting the world of Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Governance and Corporate World.

Oniosun was a research scientist at the Centre for Space Research and Applications, Federal University of Technology, Akure where he Coordinated all Space Education and Outreach of the Centre and was on the Ground Station development team of NigeriaEduSAT-1 (Nigeria’s first CUBESAT).

As a YouthMappers fellow, he works to create and use open-source software for geographic information to address chronic development problems in countries where USAID works to end poverty. Earlier this year, he was featured by USAID for solving urban waste problem in one of Nigerian cities using geospatial technologies.

He Co-Founded ISpatial Technologies with a mission to capitalize on space technologies and open data to solve developmental challenges in Africa. He is an editor for Space in Africa; the primary source of space related information from Africa. Oniosun is highly interested in building a commercial space ecosystem in Africa.

Wares Chancharoen

“When I was undergraduate student in Mechanical engineering, I did microgravity research about fluid flow in textile with JAXA parabolic flight. Subsequently, last year our research team in Thailand has been awarded as a team in National Space Exploration project governed by GISTDA, Thailand space agency that the study was 3D food printer in space. Then, on March 2018, I joined a Y-ISEF side event of ISEF2 at Tokyo. In that time, our team has been awarded by Dentsu space lab that the work was a space debris destroy game (we call a Debris GO game) for sustain the funding to eliminate space debris. Recently, I am a director of citizen achieved technology (CAT) space research team in Futuristic Research in Enigmatic + Aesthetics Knowledge (FREAK) laboratory at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), Thailand and also be a CEO, co-founder of Space Zab limited company where is a space company founded by multidiscipline and multi-generation people in Thailand. For my perspectives about space, space is area to achieve our dreams and can do freak challenges. In my opinion, space is no boundaries and no nation. Therefore, we should make space easy to access, share resource, and dream together. Especially, starting from space education, we should equitize space education of children and young generation in developing country. Finally, once again space is accessible area for everyone in the world.”

Wasanchai Vongsantivanich

Wasanchai is currently a Satellite Systems Engineer at GISTDA (Thai Space Organization). He obtained his degree from ISAE, Toulouse, France. Currently, he is the project manager for EOS constellation mission planning and scheduling platform. This system is also being used and adopted by Sentinel Asia, a framework under Asia Pacific Regional Space Agencies’ Forum (APRSAF) to collaborates among satellite operators to acquire and use data from space for disaster resilience. He’s also working on ‘Thailand Space Consortium’ scientific satellite project as a satellite systems team leader.He also helps to promote Space to the young generations in Thailand. He was involved and took part as a creator to develop and create contents and exhibitions for ‘Space Inspirium’ the first Space Museum in South East Asia. For space outreaches, in 2017, he was selected as one of the Thai Science Ambassador by National Science Museum to promote STEM education throughout the country.

Wasanchai is also an SGAC member and was an NPoC for Thailand. He is actively working internationally with other space organizations/agencies, especially among the emerging space countries to foster collaborations for space related activities. His perspective is to see the emerging space nations work together to be able to make use of space and contribute to the world space community efficiently and sustainably.

Erdenebaatar Dashdondog

“I am the head of Nano-Satellite development laboratory of the National University of Mongolia. I was interested in space activities and involved in space programs when it was just emerged in university level. I have participated National Cansat Competition as a supervisor of NUM Cansat team. I have got my doctor degree in space engineering while I design, build and operate first Mongolian satellite named MAZAALAI with team of Mongolia at Kyutech (Kyushu Institute of Technology) Japan. We, team who build the first Mongolian satellite, founded a non-governmental organization so called Mongolian Space Technology Association (MoSTA) in 2017, with the support of NUM and Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics Mongolian Academy of Sciences. MoSTA’s goals are to promote education and application of space technology, and then to support research and collaboration of local and foreign institutions, and to advise to the government in this field. Yet, Mongolia has no space agency, but demands, interests and activity in this field have been increasing rapidly. MoSTA will be the helpful non-governmental organization for establishment of national space agency by collective knowledge, information and human resource.”