Covered in this session:
Brian Weimer leads the Space & Satellite practice at Sheppard Mullin. He is based in Washington, DC. Mr. Weimer is a leading space lawyer and expert on FCC, CFIUS, and satellite issues.
Daniel Bock is the CTO, Managing Director & Founder of Morpheus Space, a pioneering company in satellite propulsion technology.
He co-founded Morpheus Space in 2018, emerging from a research project at the Dresden University of Technology. Under his leadership, the company has developed innovative FEEP propulsion systems, leading to the first successfully tested propulsion system on a nano satellite, the first collision avoidance maneuver in space, and the first HaaS contract for propulsion.
Today, Morpheus Space is building and delivering GO-2, a modular and highly efficient propulsion system enabling space mobility through a satellite’s entire lifecycle, designed to meet the growing demand for satellite mobility.
Daniel has been instrumental in positioning Morpheus Space as a key player in the space industry, driving the company’s rapid growth and technological advancements.
Araz Feyzi is the Co-founder and CTO of Kayhan Space. Kayhan Space is a software company focused on making spaceflight safer by delivering next-generation autonomous spaceflight capabilities. Araz has a master’s in Information Systems and has been a part of two successful startups. He has over 10 years of experience in technology and analytics working for startups, as well as Fortune 500 companies.
Francho García is the CEO and co-founder of Arkadia Space, a company developing green chemical propulsion systems for space. Aerospace engineer from the Technical University of Madrid, Francho spent several years at the European Space Agency (ESA) working in quality assurance, and later joined PLD Space, where he led the Mission Department and played a key role in securing the company’s first commercial customers. Today, he leads Arkadia with the mission of making space mobility more sustainable and accessible
Chiara Manfletti is the Chief Executive Officer at Neuraspace and the Professor of Space Propulsion and Mobility at the Technical University of Munich. At the early stage of her career, she worked for the German Aerospace Center, DLR, as a research engineer and later joined the European Space Agency (ESA) where she was the Programme Advisor to the Director General at the agency’s headquarters in Paris. She was nominated as the first President of the then just founded Portuguese national space agency, Portugal Space. During her professional tenure, Chiara later headed the Policy and Programmes Coordination department at the ESA, prior to joining Neuraspace.
Miguel Ángel Molina has been working for over 37 years in the technology sector and contributed to the development of GMV since its founding.
Molina holds a degree in aeronautics engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (1987) and joined GMV after completing his studies. At GMV he has held various posts: from project engineer to director of the Valladolid-based Logistic Systems Unit, director of space engineering and finally director of ground control systems, including assignments as activity manager or project manager.
From 1988 to 1996 he was based in Cannes (Aerospatiale) and Toulouse (MMS and CNES) working on several projects such as the EUTELSAT II simulator, the AOCS on-board software to develop the SPACEBUS platform and the Helios II military project.
In 1996 he returned to GMV’s head office where he took part mainly in projects for the European Space Agency (ESA), forerunner activities of the current Galileo, and Eutelsat until in 1998 when he was appointed head of the Logistics Systems unit and moved to GMV’s Valladolid headquarters.
In 2001 Miguel Ángel returned to Madrid and was appointed head of the Space Engineering Department, where he was responsible for leading a group of almost 80 engineers working to define future space missions and control the orbital position of a large part of the satellites currently in orbit.
In 2007, he became head of the Control Centers business unit, combining the operational development of ground control systems and flight dynamics systems. Following a few years of strong growth in the unit, in 2012 he became head of Space contracts, strategy, business development, as well as deputy to the EST General Manager. In 2022 he was appointed deputy general manager of GMV’s Space Systems EST (Earth Observation, Exploration, Science, Space Security, Telecommunications and Space Transportation) sector.