Space Rendezvous: Is this rocket science?

KTH Space Center organizes two Space Rendezvous each year, one during each academic period. It is a half day event filled with talks on a specific space-related topic. The theme this time is 'Is this rocket science?' and the presentations will focus on novel rocket technologies.

The event is hosted over zoom. The meeting ID is: 62079934578

Speaker Program

Short bio's:

Aleksander Kipiela is a master student at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm with major in Aerospace engineering. He obtained engineer title in 2020 in the same field at the Warsaw University of Technology. In Warsaw, he was involved in the Students’ Space Association, one of the University’s largest student organizations. His main tasks were project coordination and sounding rockets design and manufacturing. He was also part of the PW-Sat3 project, where he worked on the cold gas propulsion system for a student satellite. Currently, Aleksander is a president of the Association of Engineering Students in Rocketry (AESIR) at KTH, where he shares his experience gained in Poland and continues pursuing his career in the aerospace industry.

Berthold Stegemann is a B.Sc student in Aerospace Engineering at the
University of Stuttgart since 2017. Before he served as a volunteer in
India for one year and travelled through the middle east. Since the
beginning of his space enthusiasm, he is especially fascinated by rocket
propulsion systems and is an active member of the HyEnD (Hybrid Engine
Development) Propulsion team since 2019. Here he participates in design,
manufacturing and testing of hybrid engines for the 2nd participation of
HyEnD in the DLR-STERN program. He is also politically involved with the
humanist party in Germany and serving as a candidate for parliament in
the upcoming elections.

Borbala (Borika) Bernus received her B.Eng degree in Mechanical & Space Engineering and B.S. degree from the University of Queensland, Australia in 2008. Since then she has worked as a Mechanical Engineer in the energy sector after which she completed her aerospace masters at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in 2020. She recently spent a few months at NASA Ames Research Center in the Coded Structures Lab after which she conducted research into Liquid Oxygen Vaporisation Systems: Atomisation and Heat Loads. She now works at Gilmour Space Technologies as a Propulsion Engineer and continues to be passionate about environmentally sustainable aerospace solutions.

Eliisabet Jahilo is the current President of DARE, managing the teams, members and everyday matters of the society. An Estonian Master's student at TU Delft specialising in Propulsion & Power systems, she joined DARE in her first year as a Bachelor's student and has since been part of the Propulsion team in Stratos IV building and testing a large Hybrid engine, the launch day committee organising the launch days in the Netherlands, and finally a part of the 20th Board of DARE. She is passionate about propulsion, a complete rocket nerd and loves sharing the ideas and enthusiasm of DARE with the world.

Francesca van Marion is an Aerospace Engineering Student at TuDelft who is also particularly involved in rocketry with Delft Aerospace Rocket engineering. She has had 3 years of experience in DARE, starting from the build and launch of a small rocket, part of the small rocket project. She then continued work in DARE as a recovery engineer, a safety trainee and launchday committee member. This year, Francesca has been in charge of leading Project Sparrow who are designing, building and testing a thrust vector controllable liquid rocket engine. Most recently she has become a safety officer on the safety board who ensures that all safety critical activities are conducted safely.

Mark Uitendaal is an aerospace engineer with a master degree from the Technical University of Delft. Mark was project manager and chief engineer of the STRATOS I project launched in 2009. 

This rocket achieved the European altitude record for amateur rockets in 2009. Mark has two years of experience as project manager / system engineer at SSC Esrange, Kiruna, in which he participated in numerous rocket and balloon campaigns. Mark was project manager of the REXUS/BEXUS project, but also participated in MAXUS, TEXUS, MASER, MAPHEUS, D-SEND and other campaigns during that period. After his time at Esrange he co-founded T-Minus Engineering, since he is a firm believer of making the sounding rocketry and space business cheaper and more efficient via miniaturisation and commercialisation, a goal which he tries to achieve via T-Minus Engineering.

Mike Brooks is an Associate Professor and Head of Mechanical Engineering at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. He is the co-founder of the UKZN Aerospace Systems Research Group (ASReG), a Senior Member of AIAA and the Programme Manager of the ASReG Phoenix Hybrid Rocket Programme. ASReG focuses on space propulsion research in hybrid and liquid rocket systems.

Philip Påhlsson is head of strategy and innovation in SSC Science Services and in charge of Testbed Esrange and the SmallSat Express project.
He has a background in spacecraft instrumentation, working as product manager for imaging detectors at IDEAS AS, where he managed space instrumentation and electronics development for international space missions and for other industries such as the medical and defense sector. He has been involved in the design of several space instruments onboard JUICE, BepiColombo, SolarOrbiter, DAMPE (CAS), HISAKI and ASIM on the ISS. Currently he leads a team of highly skilled professionals to expand Esrange for reusability tests, rocket engine validation and satellite launch.

Robin Scholtes is an Aerospace Engineer about to finish his M.Sc at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm with a focus in space technology. He obtained a B.Sc degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Stuttgart in 2017. During his studies in Germany, he made an internship at ArianeGroup in Munich in the design department of Vulcain 2.1. In 2018 he moved to Stockholm to study at KTH where he joined the Association of Engineering Students in Rocketry (AESIR) as propulsion team lead of the Sigmundr project, which had its successful launch in December 2019. Since the beginning of 2020 he has been working at the Rocket Factory Augsburg AG, first as Master’s student and currently as full-time development engineer in the testing department.

Tina and Tom Sjögren: Extreme adventurers, seasoned entrepreneurs, and engineers by training Tom and Tina Sjogren are founders of Pythomspace, an aerospace company headquartered in California. With a long-term goal of human Space exploration, Pythomspace currently develops Eiger orbital rocket scheduled for suborbital launch within a year. Eiger was selected by DARPA as one of 10 finalists among 50 entries worldwide to design a highly responsive orbital rocket for launches "anytime, from anywhere."

Pythom focus is on small teams, fast development, and highly responsive launch site choices. This spring team Pythom performed a successful hot fire of their proprietary rocket engine Asterex. The full system includes unique propulsion hardware tailored for launches, landings, and ascents for Earth, asteroids, planetary moons, and the planet Mars.

ESA BIC Sweden:

Video from ESA BIC Sweden