The IAF is proud to introduce the 2024 IAF Young Space Leaders!

Chief of Satellite Design Department
National Space Science Agency (NSSA)

Aysha Alharam, the first Bahraini woman Space Engineer and Chief of the Satellite Design Department at the National Space Science Agency, is a trailblazer in the space industry. With two master's degrees and a bachelor's degree with honors, she has broken gender barriers as the first female Arab to command a satellite launch. Aysha leads the groundbreaking AlMunther Satellite, Bahrain's first fully national project, alongside other significant initiatives like the Aman payload, showcasing her leadership and innovation in space technology and cybersecurity. Beyond her technical expertise, Aysha actively mentors through the Space4Women program and engages in IEEE activities to promote diversity in STEM. Her exceptional leadership skills and technical prowess have earned her numerous awards, including the 20 under 35 Future Space Leader Global Award. These achievements underscore her suitability as a candidate for the IAF Young Space Leaders Recognition Programme, demonstrating her impactful leadership, technical expertise and commitment to advancing the global space sector.

Senior Practice Manager, Space & Connectivity
Access Partnership, Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC)

Hamza Hameed is a Pakistani lawyer who works as a Senior Practice Manager for Access Partnership in Singapore. He is a member of the ITU Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Board and served as the Chair of the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) from 2022-2024. He supports governments and the private sector with policy, regulatory, and compliance-related matters in the space, satellite, and telecommunications industries. Before this, Hamza worked as part of the Secretariat of UNIDROIT in Rome. He led the effort towards establishing an international system of secured transactions law for the space sector, as well as advising governments on issues related to blockchain law and crypto law.

Hamza holds an LLM from the International Institute for Air and Space Law at Leiden University. He teaches spacecraft financing at various universities and is a member of the International Institute for Space Law (IISL).

Sales and Business Development Representative
DcubeD (Deployables Cubed GmbH)

Valentina Luchetti is a Sales and Business Development Representative at DCUBED, supporting the business expansion of the fast-growing NewSpace company based in Munich, Germany. Prior to joining DCUBED, Valentina worked for SGAC, the Space Generation Advisory Council, covering positions such as Chief of Staff and Executive Director, and at Airbus Commercial. Valentina is the Vice Chair of the ACCESS European Subcommittee and a member of the IAF Space Education and Outreach Committee (SEOC) and the Workforce Development-Young Professionals Programme Committee (WD-YPP). With a background in aerospace engineering and a people-oriented personality, she loves supporting and fostering the space ecosystem from both technological and emerging market opportunity perspectives.

UN-Affairs Department Legal Advisor
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)

Gina Petrovici, LL.M., is a lawyer working in the UN Affairs Department of the German Space Agency at DLR, where she advises on space law and policy. Engagement with the international space community is the basis of her work. She leads the preparation of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) plenary meetings and actively participates in the meetings of COPUOS and its Subcommittees. As a member of the German Delegation to ESA's International Relations Committee, she advises on matters related to COPUOS as well as national and international space law. Central topics of her work include legal and policy aspects related to: Activities on the Moon (incl. Space Resources), Space for Earth and Sustainable Space Activities. Besides preparing national inputs to the Committee meetings, Gina coordinates and advocates for common positions on topical issues of space regulation at national, regional and international levels. She is the point of contact at the German Space Agency for the Artemis Accords. In this role, she regularly interacts with signatories and non-signatories on issues related to the Accords.

Prior to her current position, she worked as Junior Lawyer at ESA’s Legal Services Department as part of a DLR fellowship.

Gina is determined to share knowledge and experience with young people and the community through her teaching activities, mentoring and speaking engagements. She is a Lecturer on Space Law and Policy and a Co-Coordinator of SGAC’s Space Generation Advocacy and Policy Platform (SGAPP). At SGAPP, she is responsible for directing the Platform, including the oversight of SGAC policy and advocacy activities in all areas of strategic governance, such as COPUOS.

She holds a Master of Laws from the University of London and is currently preparing a PhD in Space Law. Gina has contributed to a number of publications.

At IAF, Gina is involved in the IAF International Programme Committee and the Committee on Space Security. She is also actively involved in the activities of the International Institute of Space Law, where she contributes to its Space Traffic Management Working Group, and the European Centre for Space Law, where she was elected student representative to the ECSL Board in 2015/16. Her efforts in this position led to the creation of the ECSL Young Lawyers' Symposium, which provides a platform for the younger generation to express their views on space law issues and to exchange these with established experts. Gina is also a member of WIA-E and the United Nations Association of Germany (DGVN).

Chief Executive Officer
Orbital Space Technologies

Carlos is an electromechanical engineer. Co-founder and CEO of Orbital Space Technologies (OST), a Costa Rican startup focused on developing hardware for microgravity experimentation. Where he directed the successful development of Costa Rica's second space mission, marking the first space endeavor led by a private company in Central America.

Carlos has served on the board of directors at the Central American Association of Aeronautics and Space (ACAE) for five years. In this capacity, he contributed to various outreach and STEM education initiatives, while also representing the association at the aerospace committee of INTECO, where he worked revising and developing aerospace standards for the Costa Rica. During his academic pursuits, Carlos co-founded and presided over TECSpace, the largest aerospace engineering student group in Costa Rica.

His dedication to the field was recognized by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) in 2021 when he was honored as an Emerging Space Leader. Currently, Carlos holds the position of Vice-Chair of the Latin American and the Caribbean Subcommittee (LAC-SC) at the IAF, where he works to enable cooperation within the space sector in the region.

Researcher, Research and Development Directorate
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

Dr. Takahiro Sasaki is a researcher in the Research and Development Directorate of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). His research interests include spacecraft attitude dynamics, formation flying, and robust control theory. He has also published more than 100 academic papers on these topics. Since joining the JAXA in April 2018, he has been engaged in research and development of spacecraft guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) and supported more than 10 satellite missions as a GNC expert and collaborated with NASA, ESA, and ISRO. He is a member of two active debris removal (ADR) projects, Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration (CRD2) Phase 1 & 2, the aim of which is developing space debris removal as a new, sustainable space business.

Dr. Sasaki received his Ph.D. from Osaka Prefecture University, Japan, in 2018. He was with the Small Spacecraft System Research Center (SSSRC) as a GNC engineer from 2009 to 2018 and developed 3 small satellites including a CubeSat. From January to November 2017, he was a visiting scholar at University of Colorado at Boulder. From November 2017 to March 2018, he was with the Robotic Mobility Group, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as a visiting scholar.

As an enthusiastic participant, Dr. Sasaki has attended IAC eight times and presented his research. As the team leader of the International Project/Programme Management Committee (IPMC) Young Professionals (YP) Workshop in IAC 2021, Dr. Sasaki promoted the research on "Remote Collaboration" and contributed to the success of the workshop. He was also selected as one of the JAXA-sponsored students to attend the International Space Education Board (ISEB) Programme held at the IAC 2013 (Beijing) and 2015 (Jerusalem), taking on the role of student leader.

Based on his experience in space education activities at ISEB/IAC Beijing and Jerusalem, he has conducted a lot of space education activities in China, Israel, Vietnam, Cambodia and Japan, and also shares his knowledges with high school students from 32 countries in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) International Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Forum for high school students.

His hobby is traveling and he have traveled to more than 45 countries.