Tag: Diverse Dozen

AIAA Unveils ASCEND Diverse Dozen Op-Eds on Space Sustainability and Environmentalism

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 19, 2024 – Reston, Va. – AIAA published the 2024 ASCEND Diverse Dozen (D12) Op-Eds – a collection of unique perspectives on today’s most pressing space sustainability challenges. The 12 visionaries who comprise the D12 will present their ideas on the opening day of 2024 ASCEND, 30 July – 1 August, Las Vegas. Organized as rapid-fire lightning talks, the D12 will address burning topics from the challenges of balancing growth through responsible space sustainability to orbital debris risking human space exploration.

ASCEND is the world’s premier outcomes-focused, interdisciplinary space event designed to accelerate building our off-world future. In its fifth year, D12 is produced in partnership with astrodynamicist Moriba Jah, chief scientist and co-founder of Privateer. More than 50 people have participated in the D12 program since 2020. Read all their Op-Eds here.

This year, the D12 is supported by the Office of Space Commerce, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce helping amplify underrepresented voices as they promote messages on space sustainability.

The 2024 ASCEND D12 cohort includes startup founders, association leaders, aerospace and engineering scholars, and policy experts in the space industry. They hail from Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, the United States and its territory, Puerto Rico.

The 2024 ASCEND Diverse Dozen are:

Nifemi Awe, Management Consultant, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Priyanka Dhopade, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Engineering, University of Auckland
Martina Dimoska, Founder and President, International Space Alliance
Jose Figueroa, Founder, Aqua/Sky Launch Innovations
Amir Gohardani, CEO, Springs of Dreams Corporation
Kim Macharia, Executive Director, Space Prize Foundation
Isabelle Mierau, Founder, Space Debris DAO
Sumbal Mushtaq, Founder, Astralbeam Organization
Alma Okpalefe, Executive Director, World Space Week Association
Carolyn Overmyer, Director, Orion Chief Engineer, Lockheed Martin Space
Olga Stelmakh-Drescher, Chief Policy, Legal & Government Relations Officer, Exolaunch
Salman Ali Thepdawala, Ph.D. Candidate and Munich Aerospace Scholar, University of Bundesweehr – Munich

Registration for 2024 ASCEND is open. Press passes are available.

Contact: Rebecca Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell

About AIAA
AIAA is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

AIAA Publishes Global Vision on Space Safety, Security, and Sustainability by 2023 ASCEND Diverse Dozen

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 16, 2023 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) today announced it has published the 2023 ASCEND Diverse Dozen (D12) Op-Eds that address the most important issues surrounding space safety, security, and sustainability. The document is available for download here .

The 2023 ASCEND D12 will deliver a thought leadership presentation of their visions for space during a dedicated session at the upcoming ASCEND event, on Tuesday, 24 October, 1130-1230 hrs PT, Caesars Forum, Las Vegas.

D12 is a partnership between ASCEND and astrodynamicist Moriba Jah, cofounder/chief scientist at Privateer, and associate professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics at the University of Texas. The 2023 ASCEND D12 represent nine countries and include:

Mustapha Agbadi, Partner, Policy and Legal Compliance, Bismerk Solicitors, United Kingdom
Sahil Bhatia, Student, University of Bremen, India
Pablo Carlos Budassi, Designer and CEO, Awe Infographics, Argentina
Allen Herbert, Space Agrifood Advocate, United Arab Emirates
Malkia Kelelue, Space Science and Astronomy Officer, Kenya Space Agency, Kenya
Michelle Lucas, Founder and CEO, Higher Orbits, United States
Yumna Majeed, Founder, Exploration—Cosmos to Classroom, Pakistan
Claire Nelson, OASEAS, Space Futures Forum, United States
Chau Nguyen, Chief Technology Officer, NYSA LLC, United States
Grecia Olano O’Brien, Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Quebec, Canada
Kristen Price, Chief Counsel/Senior Director—Legal and Compliance, Blue Origin, United States
Alejandro J. Roman Molinas, General Director of Aerospace Development, Paraguayan Space Agency, Paraguay

Registration for the 2023 ASCEND event is open. Journalists from around the world are invited to cover 2023 ASCEND; press passes are available for credentialed media by request.

Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell

About ASCEND
Powered by AIAA, ASCEND, which stands for Accelerating Space Commerce, Exploration, and New Discovery, is the world’s premier collaborative, outcomes-driven, interdisciplinary community designed to accelerate the building of our off-world future. For more information, visit ascend.events, or follow ASCEND on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

2023 ASCEND Diverse Dozen Application Open: Inviting Unique Ideas on Space Safety, Security, and Sustainability

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 4, 2023 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has opened applications for its 2023 ASCEND Diverse Dozen program. Thought leaders and activists are invited to apply for this fourth cohort to address the most important issues surrounding space safety, security, and sustainability. Deadline for entries is 2 June.

Known as D12, the program is a partnership between ASCEND and astrodynamicist Moriba Jah, chief scientist and co-founder at Privateer and associate professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at the University of Texas. This exclusive ASCEND community delivers rapid-fire lightning talks during the ASCEND apex event, 23–25 October, Caesars Forum in Las Vegas. The D12 Op-Eds will be published in conjunction with the event.

Influential thinkers and emerging leaders from around the globe have been featured in D12 during ASCEND since it launched three years ago. The D12 Op-Eds from the previous 35 participants are available online:

The recording of the 2022 ASCEND D12 cohort presentation is available: 2022 ASCEND D12 session.

“How much do you love humanity? Enough to save the planet?!” asks Jah, a space environmentalist who is advancing our ability to understand how human objects in space create both services and risks of collisions. “D12 is centered on the belief that we’re more similar than we are different, and action is best when born from compassion.”

Applications for the 2023 ASCEND Diverse Dozen are due on 2 June.

Media Contact: Rebecca Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell

AIAA Publishes Op-Ed Collection from ASCEND Diverse Dozen on Space Traffic Management

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 7, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The ASCEND Diverse Dozen are sharing their timely views in a collection of op-eds on the most important, salient issues surrounding safety, security, and sustainability in the context of space traffic. Led by Moriba Jah from the University of Texas at Austin, the Diverse Dozen (listed below) are influential thinkers and emerging leaders from around the globe who presented their messages as rapid-fire lightning talks during the 2021 ASCEND centerpiece annual event in Las Vegas. Powered by AIAA, ASCEND is the global interdisciplinary community dedicated to building humanity’s off-world future that held its annual event on 8-10 and 15-17 November.

This collection of op-eds comes at an ideal time when the United States is maintaining its White House-level focus on space policy through the National Space Council. At the first meeting of the Biden Administration’s National Space Council on 1 December, the attendees addressed the issue of space traffic management. AIAA believes the United States must lead in gathering the international community to establish best practices, standards, and norms of behavior for both governmental and commercial space activities. Domestically, AIAA urges Congress to codify Space Policy Directive-3 and to provide the necessary resources to the Office of Space Commerce in the Department of Commerce to tackle the important issue of space traffic management.

2021 Cohort of the Space Traffic Management Diverse Dozen

Ilaria Cinelli, Space Healthcare and Business Developer, AIKO (Italy)
Elena Cirkovic, Researcher, Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) (Canada, Bosnia, Finland)
Victoria Carter-Cortez, Space Strategy Consultant, PwC (France, Bolivia, UK)
Hjalte Osborn Frandsen, Researcher, University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
Victoria Krivova, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Russia)
Emma Louden, Ph.D. Student, Yale University (USA)
Minoo Rathnasabapathy, Research Engineer, Space Enabled Research Group, MIT Media Lab (Australia, South Africa, USA)
Giuliana Rotola, Implementation Support Office, Global Expert Group on Sustainable Lunar Activities (GEGSLA) (Italy)
Cassandra Steer, Senior Lecturer, Australian National University College of Law; and Mission Specialist, Australian National University Institute for Space (Australia)
Mina Takla, CEO & Co-Founder, CosmoX, Inc. (Egypt, USA)
Nidhi Sandeep Vasaikar, Aerospace Engineer, Godrej Aerospace (India)

Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell

About ASCEND
Powered by AIAA, ASCEND promotes the collaborative, interdisciplinary, outcomes-driven community of professionals, students, and enthusiasts around the world who are accelerating humanity’s progress toward our off-world future! For more information, visit ascend.events, or follow ASCEND on Twitter, Facebook,LinkedIn, and Instagram.

About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, and follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.