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2023 Speakers

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Didier Schmitt

Head of the Strategy & Coordination Group, Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration

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Massimo Claudio Comparini

CEO
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Shatel Bhakta

Agency Lunar Architecture Lead

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Dana Baki

Chief Commercial Officer

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Cesare Capararo

Head of Programs
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Manny Shar

Managing Director
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Davide Petrillo

Managing Director
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Adnan Al-Rais

Director of Remote Sensing Department
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Sam Martin

Senior Partner
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Raphael Roettgen

Founder & Partner
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Didier Schmitt

Head of the Strategy & Coordination Group, Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration

Didier Schmitt is head of the strategy and coordination group for human and robotic exploration at the European Space Agency. From 2009 to 2018 he was stationed in Brussels, successively in the European Commission Space Policy Unit, as adviser to the President of the EC on technology foresight, and at the EU diplomatic service dealing with space and security. Previously he was head of life sciences for human spaceflight at ESA-ESTEC. As an academic he was Associate Professor at the Toulouse medical school and at the International Space University in Strasbourg. His educational background is PhD in biosciences as well as a certified medical doctor.

Massimo Claudio Comparini

CEO
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.

Shatel Bhakta

Agency Lunar Architecture Lead
Shatel Bhakta (seh-thul bhuck-tha) is the lead architect on the Lunar Architecture Team for NASA’s Artemis campaign as apart of the overall Moon to Mars Program. He leads a multidisciplinary team across the agency to develop and refine the lunar architecture and Artemis concepts, which includes its associated mission scoping, concept of operations, trades and analysis, system element conceptualization, and system-of-systems integration. Bhakta earned his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and his graduate degree in Space Architecture from the University of Houston. With over 20 years of experience in human spaceflight program design, development, test and operations, Bhakta started with analysis, testing, and mission support for the Space Station’s active thermal control systems hardware and software where his work earned him numerous commendations including a NASA Spaceflight Awareness award and a Silver Snoopy. He transitioned over to work on development of the Orion deep space capsule and led the active thermal control system and environmental control and life support subsystems team through the critical design review and looks forward to seeing that hardware perform on Artemis II. He then transitioned to NASA to lead the Gateway thermal team through preliminary design review before taking on his current role. In his free time, he is a husband and father of three active kids that engage him in robotics, soccer, and BSA scouting activities that currently keep him from watching television shows or reading many good books.

Dana Baki

Chief Commercial Officer
Dana Baki is the Chief Commercial Officer of The Exploration Company, one of the fastest growing space companies globally, building reusable space capsules and lunar landers. This Nyx capsule will be the first to use green propellant globally, while flying at a fraction of the cost of global competition. Prior to joining The Exploration Company, Dana was the co-founder & COO of MUNCH:ON, a food technology platform based out of the Middle East, that was acquired by Careem (Uber’s subsidiary in the region). Before starting MUNCH:ON, Dana was a Partner of Business Development at AlJal Capital—a financing and venture capital firm in the United Arab Emirates. Previous to that, Ms. Baki worked for Procter & Gamble in the United States for 7+ years, benefiting from a wide range of assignments within the company and gaining expertise in Corporate Strategy, Marketing and Consumer Insights. She holds an MBA from Georgetown University and B.A. in Economics and English Literature from The University of Michigan.

Cesare Capararo

Head of Programs
After participating to several Human Space Flight projects at Thales Alenia Space, with the founding of ALTEC in Torino, Italy, and the start of ISS assembly, took responsibility of the engineering and mission support activities of the logistics modules MPLM at ALTEC. Following an experience at COL-CC as Columbus Flight Director, he returned to Torino to take responsibility of the ESA ISS Training Logistics and Operations Support services and other projects, until being appointed as ALTEC Head of Programs.

Manny Shah

Managing Director
Manny is the Managing Director for UK & Europe at Orbit Fab, supporting the development of an in-space propellant and materials supply chain. Manny is focused on technology development, commercialisation, and international growth for this leading space start-up. Manny previously helped develop BryceTech’s international consulting presence into a revenue generating and profitable business, managed the analysis of a multi-billion-dollar portfolio of assets at Inmarsat, and executed on cross-functional initiatives at top-tier investment banks. Manny holds a master’s degree in space studies from the International Space University and a bachelor’s in computer science from the University of Kent. Manny sits on multiple advisory boards and committees, including UKSA’s Space Technology Advisory Committee, the UK’s Spaceflight Safety and Regulatory Council, and the International Astronautical Federation’s Industry Relations Committee. He is a recipient of the 2023 IAF Young Space Leader, the 2019 and 2020 SSPI 20 under 35 award, SGAC’s Space Generation Leadership award, and the William S. Ball Award for Entrepreneurship.

Davide Petrillo

Managing Director
Davide Petrillo has been appointed as Managing Director at Nanoracks Space Outpost Europe. Davide brings with him a wealth of experience in the aerospace industry, having previously worked as a business manager for Alten Ltd in London and as a business analyst for Accenture in Milano. In October 2021, he was elected as Vice President for Education and Workforce Development of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), and in 2020, he was appointed as Executive Director of the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC). Previously, he was the team leader of FELDs Experiment selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the Drop Your Thesis! 2014 program. In 2015, he won the IAF “Hans Von Muldau Team Award” for the best team project at the 66th International Astronautical Congress (IAC). Davide holds an M.Sc in aerospace engineering from the University of Padova.

Adnan Al-Rais

Director of Remote Sensing Department
In his capacity as Assistant Director General – Space Operations and Exploration Sector in the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), Adnan and his team are responsible for all downstream activities of MBRSC space missions. This includes the Ground Networks Operations and Maintenance, Missions Operations, Data Processing, Applications and Value-added Products Development, Interfacing with the end users; locally and internationally, as well as commercializing MBRSC products and services. In addition, Adnan is managing the UAE Astronaut Program at MBRSC, managing missions, and preparing astronauts corps to support current and future Human Spaceflight missions. Moreover, he is overseeing the Space Science and Space Robotics Lab at MBRSC. Adnan has published and presented a number of papers in the areas of remote sensing and satellite image applications. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from Khalifa University, Sharjah, UAE

Sam Martin

Senior Partner
Since 2010, Sam has been a partner at Fleur De Lis Partners in Tampa, Florida, accumulating more than a decade of private transaction experience. In 2019, he led application development at an AI startup. After departing in 2020, he deepened his AI research, earned a certificate in CS from NYU, and in 2022, co-authored an ML algorithm for equities analysis. That same year, he invested in Spaced Ventures. He joined their team in March 2023 as Senior Partner and has since helped close 4 transactions representing 14.5mn $USD in AUM. Sam holds a bachelor’s in philosophy and a minor in music from George Washington University.

Raphael Roettgen

Founder & Partner
Raphael Roettgen is the founder of E2MC Ventures, a space-focused early-stage venture capital firm. He is also the co-founder of Prometheus Life Technologies, a space biotech startup that was the first startup to win the Orbital Reef innovation challenge. He lectures on space entrepreneurship and finance at several universities including the International Space University (ISU) and the Swiss Institute of Technology at Lausanne (EPFL), hosts the popular Space Business Podcast, and is the author of “To Infinity”, an introductory book on the space economy. Previously, Mr. Roettgen held senior roles at global investment banks and hedge funds and was also a fintech entrepreneur in Brazil. He holds degrees in finance from Wharton, machine learning from PUC-Rio and space studies from the International Space University, where he also serves as a governing member.