It is our great pleasure to invite you to the 11th International Conference on Recent Advances in Air and Space Technologies (RAST2026). 11th RAST conference will be held on 13–15 May 2026 in honor of the 75thanniversary of the establishment of NDU Turkish Air Force Academy. The conference will be a face-to-face event in Istanbul, Türkiye.
International Conference on Recent Advances in Air and Space Technologies (RAST) is held by the National Defence University, Turkish Air Force Academy at the international level biennially.
As in previous conferences, contributions to the 11th RAST Conference are expected from institutions such as the Ministry of National Defence, Ministry of Industry andTechnology, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Turkish General Staff, Turkish Air Force Command, Presidency of Defence Industries, General Directorate of Mapping, General Directorate of Military Factories, TÜBİTAK Space Technologies Research Institute, TÜBİTAK Defence Industries Research and Development Institute, TÜBİTAK Informatics and Information Security Research Center, as well as distinguished international universities.
RAST2026 is intended to be a forum for the exchange of recent research results and ideas in air and space technologies. It should be of interest to a wide range of participants from government agencies, relevant international institutions, universities, research organizations, and air and space companies, as well as media and the general public. Presentations are encouraged by international space agencies as well as the private sector.
Francesco Panerai is an Assistant Professor in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research covers advanced materials for extreme environments, transport in porous media, and hypersonic aerothermodynamics. Prior to Illinois, he was a research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center. He received his PhD and Research Master in Aeronautics and Aerospace from von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (Belgium) and a M.Sc. and a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Perugia (Italy). He is a recipient of the 2019 Air Force Young Investigator Award and is an AIAA Associate Fellow. He is one of the founding members of the Center for Hypersonics and Entry Systems Studies (CHESS) at Illinois.