Members

Profiles

Guillem Anglada-Escudé, Astronomy and Space Sciences (SONet board, Chair)

Institute of Space Sciences/CSIC, Spain. Apart from my work on extra-solar planets, I am interested in high-level architectural design of an off-world settlement with the short term goal of organising a multidisciplinary effort to build a sustainable and self-replicable demonstrator on Earth. Next time we set foot on another world, we do it sustainably.
Projects : High level architectural system design for an Earth demonstrator; space resources and value chains in space; and scientific and literature curation.
Contact: anglada at ieec.cat, Twitter : @GuillemAnglada

Engeland Apostol, Architecture & space planning, Transit Oriented Development

I am an Architect at Weston Williamson+Partners specialising in the design and delivery of transportation projects. Before this, I worked at SCDA Architects in Singapore and I have been involved in several high-end residential and hospitality projects worldwide. My experience focusses on the high-rise and transportation building typologies, facade design and architectural regeneration work in emergin cities. I also author a blog sheepairsupport.com where I experiment and share hyper-future architectural spaces under and open source program. Drawing from my experience, I hope to be able to design for some planetary architecture one day.
Projects : Contribute to the designs of human settlements off-world.
Contact : engeland.apostol at gmail.com, Twitter : @sheepairsupport

Miquel Banchs-Piqué, Resilience, Futures Analysis and Energy Sustainability

School of Civil Engineering and Surveying(SCES), University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom. I am interested in improving the resilience of the energy system and its interaction with the Earth system as a whole. The effort of designing a self-sustainable off-world settlement will surely give us insights to help us find better solutions for our problems here on Earth.
Projects : Development of a range of future scenarios for off-world settlements against which to test designs and improve their resilience.
Contact : miquel.banchs-pique at port.ac.uk , Twitter: @mikbp23

Rory Barnes, Astrobiology, Virtual Reality, Numerical Modelling of Complex Systems

University of Washington, Department of Astronomy, United States of America
Projects :1) Numerical modelling of environments and the interaction of machines with those environments using my software program VPLanet as a starting point. This code is modular and can be modified to handle any generic problem that can be represented by ordinary/partial differential equations and/or explicit analytic functions., 2) Development of a virtual reality environment to simulate an off-world colony. As co-founder and chief scientist of VR Ulysses Inc., I can direct our team to build virtual representations of the colonies that allow team members and others to virtually experience designs.
Contact : rory at astro.washington.edu

Prof. Lucy Berthoud, Spacecraft Systems Engineering (SONet board)

University of Bristol, Department of Areospace Engineering, United Kingdom, As a space systems engineer, I have worked on spacecraft missions to Mars, Mars sample return missions and high containment buildings for housing Mars samples on Earth. I have given a TEDx talk on Life on Mars and do research on sustainable technologies for Martian habitats.
Projects : Mars Express, Mars Sample Return mission, H2020 EURO-CARES, technical advisor to ‘Building a Martian House’ project led by the artists Ella and Nicki,
Contact: lucy.berthoud at bristol.ac.uk, Twitter : @lucy_berthoud

Prof. Ignasi Casanova, Planetary Exploration, Materials and Energy Technologies

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Institute of Energy Technologies (INTE) & Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Spain. Prof. Casanova holds a PhD in geochemistry and a degree in geology, he has taken over the position of director of INTE . Associated with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the UPC, Casanova is the coordinator of the Erasmus Mundus PhD program in Sustainable Energy Services (Select+). He has previously worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory, NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and the University of Chicago, all three in the U.S. He has also been a member of the European Space Agency’s Advisory Board on New Exploration Technologies and has participated in a number of space missions to the Moon and Mars.
Projects : Exploration and in-situ resource utilization in permanent Lunar and Martian settlements.
Contact: ignasi.casanova at upc.edu

Prof. Elisabeth Clausen, Mining Engineering

Institute for Advanced Mining Techologies, RWTH Aachen University, Germany. My background is in the field of terrestrial and deep see mining. Our major researsh area and expertise -at the Institute for Advanced Mining Technologies (AMT) of the RWTH Aachen University is the development and application of ruggedized sensor technologies being able to cope with harsh mining environments, including acquisition of data, the processing of data using sophisticaded data analytics methods for being used as informations for various mining applications.
Projects : I am interested in developing and participating in projects pushing forward research for an efficient extraction of space resources with our expertise in the field of terrestrial and deep-sea mining. Equially, space related knowledge gained and developments can also be used for advancements in on-Earth mining activities.
Contact: eclausen at amt.rwth-aachen.de

Prof. Ian Crawford, Planetary Science and Astrobiology

Birckbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom. I am interested in the identification and use of lunar resources for establishing a space-based economy which, ultimately, may lead to the evolution of a space-faring civilisation in the Solar System. I am also interested in developing the Moon to facilitate a range of scientific objectives, including lunar geology, observational astronomy, and astrobiology.
Projects : Research in lunar science, lunar resources and in-situ-resource-utilization.
Contact: i.crawford at bbk.ac.uk

Prof. David Cullen, Astrobiology and Space Biotechnology (SONet Board)

Space Group at University of Cranfield, United Kingdom. Given my biochemistry and biotechnology background, my current interests include the application of biotechnology to all aspects of activities beyond the confines of the Earth. This started with a leadership involvement with the Life Marker Chip instrument selected for the original ESA ExoMars instrument payload and now involves activities and interests ranging from CubeSat and bio-CubeSat payloads for bioscience and ISRU demonstration.
Projects : Applications through to consideration of biotechnology for ISRU involved with future planetary settlements – applications ranging from life support to bioleaching/biomining, biologically produced materials for settlement construction and manufacture and bioreactors for rocket propellant production on Mars.
Contact: d.cullen at cranfield.ac.uk

David de la Torre, Space Mission Design

Dept. de Fisica, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya. My BSc is in Aerospace Engineering and I am currently finishing my PhD at UPC. I have been working as Visiting Researcher at the European Space Operation Center (ESOC), and participated in the CDF studies of Ice Giants and L-BEAM, and I have carried out the implementation of a low-thrust method for trajectory design. I have worked as a researcher at the Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia participating in the feasibility study of ESA’s Small Mars Satellite. I am highly interested in space research and mission design, numerical methods applied to engineering, distributed computing, and software engineering in general.
Projects : Space mission design projects, especially at Phase-0 and Phase-1, either applied to real missions or case studies. Software development/engineering projects, including implementation, validation and testing. Data mining and processing, especially applied to large databases/datasets via parallel computing. And, in general, any project that brings together the space sector and software engineering.
Contact : david.de.la.torre.sangra@upc.es

Gisela Detrell, Life Support and Energy System (SONet board)

Institute of Space Systems/University of Stuttgart, Germany. I am interested in general on how to maintain humans alive in space as independent as possible from Earth resources, shall it be in a space station around the Earth, in the Moon or Mars, or wherever the future might bring us. My current research is focused on the use of biological systems – microalgae – which are a potential good candidate for future human missions. Our algae have been so far to the ISS, we hope send them beyond that!
Projects : Photobioreactor – PBR@LSR; Microalgae research for O2 and Food production for space applicaitons; Technology transfer of microalgae based systems for Water processing on Earth.
Contact: detrell at irs.uni-stuttgart.de

Eric Fimbinger, Mining Engineering – Conveying Technology and Design Methods

Montanuniversitaet Leoben (University of Leoben), Austria. I am specialised in conveying technology (chair of the department), and I am interested in contributing to the topic of material handling in space. For the extension of earthbound boundaries into space, the processing and transportation of resources are fundamental. To ensure the functionality of systems with material movements, the unusual environmental conditions in space must be taken into account accordingly.
Projects: Numerical simulation (DEM) and mechanical engineering design, specialised in conveying technology and material handling.
Contact: eric.fimbinger at unileoben.ac.at, LinkedIn: Eric Fimbinger

Verónica Florido, Architecture, Urban Planning and Graphic Design

ABIBOO studio I am interested in finding new functional ways to inhabit spaces with new sustainable building technologies and materials. My experience is focused on architectural design in residential building typology, urban planning, and graphic design. There are new ways of living on Earth that seem to follow the premise “The only permanent thing is change.” Architects have understood that cities are collapsed, that materials have to be permanently renewed, and have realized that there are factors such as climate change and sustainability that need to be taken into account when designing. We have the opportunity to start from 0 in an off-world settlement, trying to optimize the common architectural problems we face on Earth.
Projects. Development of architectural projects building with local materials, Helping with the architectural and urban design of new human settlements in space.
Contact : veroflorido at gmail.com, Twitter : @veroflorido

Enrique García-Melendo, Planetary Atmospheres and Astronomy

Dept. de Fisica, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya. My main research interests are planetary atmospheres of the solar system. I have been focusing on the atmospheres of the gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, and the study of prominent phenomena such as planetary scale storms, waves, general circulation, etc. But I am also interested in the atmospheres of terrestrial planets. I am member of the TUAREG Research Group at UPC and a collaborator of the GCP (Planetary Sciences Group) at Universidad del País Vasco.
Projects : Numerical modelling of the weather layer of planetary atmospheres, and study of atmospheric phenomena from mesoscale to planetary scale.
Contact : enrique.garcia.melendo at upc.es

Philipp Hartlieb, Mining Engineering (SONet board)

Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Austria. My major area of research is excavation and fragmentation of rocks (on earth). I am interested in applying these techniques and principles to extra-terrestrial resources, where processes differ significantly due to lack of gravitation and atmosphere. Off-world settlements can only be sustainable if they can produce their own resources.
Projects : Alternative rock fragmentation concepts, blast optimisation, sustainable use of raw materials.
Contact: Philipp.hartlieb at unileoben.ac.at, Twitter: @HartliebPhilipp

Prof. Michele Lavagna, Aerospace Science (SONet board)

Politecnico di Milano, Italy. I’m leading the ASTRA group, who is involved in many space exploration and system engineering researchers. Of particular interest are the field of ISRU from the processes and the technology development perspective, the Artificial Intelligence techniques exploitation for on-board autonomy and system\mission robustness increase, the cubesats-like systems implementation, the implementation of ground-based facilities\infrastructures for space exploration TRL increase.
Projects : Applications related to ISRU (greenhouse and 3D printing included).
Contact: michelle.lavagna at polimi.it

Jesus Lucero, Aerospace engineering

www.linkedin.com/in/lucero-jesus I’m a Spanish aerospace engineer with an MSc. in Astronautics and Space Engineering from Cranfield University. I have a background in remote sensing and Earth observation, technology and knowledge which can be applied to monitor further worlds too in interplanetary remote sensing. I also have experience in deep space missions such as designing a sustainable settlement on Mars. Apart from that I love astronomy and have some experience on it.
Projects : I am interested and have participated in projects involving remote sensing, in-situ-resource-utilisation, hydroponics and deep space missions
Contact: jesuslucero96 at gmail.com

Prof. Jordi Miralda-Escudé, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Institut de Ciències del Cosmos, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. At present my research focus is on astrophysical and cosmological methods to learn about dark matter, including gravitational lensing, axion searches, and the use of stellar streams in the Local Group. I am looking forward to spend more time in conversations on the future development of space habitats as our long term goal, and their implications for the human civilization and society.
Projects : Promote the public discussion on space resource utilization and development of human activities in space.
Contact: miralda@icc.ub.edu

Marius Montón, Microelectronics, embedded systems, Internet of Things

Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC). I have a PhD in Computer Science by the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) and Masters in Microelectronics and Electronic Systems and Computer Engineer degree from the same university. I’m co-founder at IoT Partners, engineering and consultancy focused on Internet of Things. Currently working as Head of Space Embedded & HW/SW development group at Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC). I also works as associate professor at the UAB. Previously I was working as Head of Innovation in WorldSensing, involved in many EU projects (FP7 & H2020). Before that, I worked as Firmware engineer in the same company. I worked several years as engineer at Cephis-UAB. By this time, I was working as consultant for GreenSocs developing TLM-2.0 based solutions for ESL businesses.
Projects : I am interested in projects in developing technology for in-situ manufacture of electronic systems. With the condition that systems must maintain by themselves when operating off-world, IT infrastructure, computers, must be resilient to different hazards: radiation, aging, temperature, security, etc. We also must take into account that no replacement parts can be received from Earth and the systems must last for decades. The obvious solution is to develope methods to build the necessary components in-situ instead of depending on spares from Earth.
Contact: monton at ieec.cat

Alfredo Muñoz, Architecture and Design (SONet board)

ABIBOO Studio, USA/ Spain/ India. As a teenager, I had two passions: Astrophysics and Architecture. While competing in the finals of a national competition of Physics in Spain, I realized that there were smarter people to lead the discovery of outer space…so I decided to learn how to create space on Earth. Since then, I have had the fortune to live and work in five continents following my other passion: Architecture. SONet has brought my two passions together again, and I look forward to creating the framework for a permanent settlement in an off-world.
Projects : Over the last 20 years, I have designed and built spaces ranging from entire cities to homes for high-net-worth individuals with a total area of six million square meters across the globe.
Contact: amunoz at abiboo.com

Robert Myhill, Seismology and Mineral Physics & Mars

University of Bristol, School of Earth Sciences, United Kingdom. I am currently a member of NASA’s InSight Science Team, investigating the geophysical properties of Mars. I am interested in the insights provided by geophysics and geological sciences into off-world investigation, habitability and resource development.
Projects : Evolution of the inner solar system; off-world scientific exploration and resource management.
Contact: bob.myhill at bristol.ac.uk

Owen Hughes Pearce, Architecture and Design Tutor (SONet board)

PEARCE+ / Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom. I am a director of Pearce+ and a design tutor at the Oxford School of Architecture. My work is always at the fringes of the profession, either by investigating extreme architectural environments in Antarctica and on Mars or through non-physical, digital architectural possibilities. I am a design tutor at Oxford Brookes University with projects focusing on generational issues, hyper technology, future cities, social cohesion in high-rise housing, communication networks and issues on generation Z/Y/Z. The latest research project focuses on improving social cohesion and reducing loneliness in high-density housing on Earth and Mars.
Projects : Building the Martian House, Bristol; Ontological World Enabling Network – Virtual Reality Social Networks
Contact: owen at pearce-plus.com

Joan-Pau Sanchez Cuartielles, Astrodynamics and Space Systems (SONet Board)

Space Group at University of Cranfield, United Kingdom. My research interests, and expertise, focuses on Mission Analysis, including its full synergies with space system engineering. Most of my recent work addresses issues with regards the trajectory design and navigation capabilities of near and mid-term space missions. Moreover, I am also interested in visionary concepts and macro-engineering space projects for future space ventures. This includes past work on asteroid mining, space based geo-engineering and terraforming.
Projects : Projects: Interplanetary transfer design; asteroid retrieval missions and in-space resources utilization; space based solar radiation management techniques for climate engineering.
Contact: jp.sanchez at cranfield.ac.uk, linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpausanchez/

Laia Ribas Cabezas, Biological Sciences and Genetics

Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM/CSIC). Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM/CSIC). My research and work is at the crossroad of biology, aquaculture, fish physiology, reproduction & Immunology, genomics and epigenetics. I am interested in SONet because it creates multidisciplinary projects to achieve the development of human activities on other planets. In a new extraterrestrial scenario, the biology of novel ecosystems will be sustained under new environmental pressures that will modify the standard physiological aspects. Thus, for the sustainability of the human activities in the space and planetary bodies, it is required to evaluate the physiological alterations of the living organism in the extraterrestrial ecosystems. Here, the lasting effects of the exposition to novel environments will be studied at the cellular and molecular level of the exposed living organisms.
Projects : I am interested in developing a project is based on a battery of biological analysis (from physiology to genomics, including epigenetics) to further explore the biological adaptations to new environments of those living organisms that are pressure to live in an extraterrestrial ecosystem. Such study can generate new molecular space-markers that can help us to better understand the underlying biological mechanisms required for living in extraterrestrial environments.
Contact: lribas at icm.csic.es

Sebastian Rodriguez, Architecture, design, 3D rendering

ABIBOO Studio I am an architectural designer at Abiboo studio specialized in competitions and high impact projects. Also, I work in my own studio Scenit Arquitectura, where I seek innovation in design methods, teaching new workflows and tools, and discussing architecture paradigms through open talks at different universities. My experience is focused on developing projects using Raytrace technology actively in the design process and producing cinematic videos for those designs. Any place in space that humanity can go will need this combination of technology and art that we call architecture.
Projects : Architecture as a discipline demanding technological development to improve life on earth and allow human life in other environments.
Contact: sebastianrodriguez1990 at gmail.com, Twitter : @scenit_s

Carles Sierra Roig, Electronic and Aeronautic Engineering

Institut of Space Studies of Catalunya (IEEC) & Institute of Space Sciences (ICE/CSIC), Spain. Given my electronics and aeronautical backgrounds, my current interests include design, manufacture and test Hi-Rel electronics for big ESA missions and CubeSats, as well as the application of low cost electronics to typical Hi-Rel systems using the proper architectures to maintain or increase overall reliability. This started with me getting involved in ARIEL and LISA missions, developing several metrology and control electronics for different instruments and mechanisms (still on-going), and continued with the C3SatP system, a powerful, versatile and reliable CubeSat computer for high demand applications (MCU + MPSoC + SDR).
Projects : manufacture and test Hi-Rel electronics for big ESA missions and CubeSats, as well as the application of low cost electronics to typical Hi-Rel systems
Contact: sierra at ice.csic.es linkedin : www.linkedin.com/in/carles-sierra-roig

Lluis Soler Turu, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Chemical Engineering Department, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain. My main research line is focused on heterogeneous catalysis for energy and environmental applications. Up to now, I have open collaborations with the University of Udine (Italy), the Institute of Research on Catalysis and Environment in Lyon (IRCELyon, France), the Technical University of Dresden (TU Dresden, Germany), the Max-Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (Germany), the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB), the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC) and the ALBA synchrotron.
Projects : Solar synthesis of fuels and chemical compounds by thermochemical redox cycles with Mars minerals.
Contact: lluis.soler.turu at upc.edu

Manel Soria, Space Sciences, Thermal and Fluid Dynamics Engineering

Departament de Fisica, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya. My research work has been oriented to the numerical modelling of fluid dynamics phenomena (planetary atmospheres, aeroacoustics, heat transfer, aerodynamics) along two complementary lines: 1-Development of algorithms and simulation codes for LES /DNS with parallel computers; 2-Application of high performance CFD codes to science and engineering problems.
Projects : I am interested in developing and participating in projects related to planetary exploration, thermal control, planetary atmospheres and computational fluid dynamics
Contact: manel.soria at upc.es

Miquel Sureda, Aeronautics and Space physics (SONet board)

Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Aerospace Section, Spain. I coordinate the Master’s Degree in Space and Aeronautical Engineering at UPC. My research is focused on CubeSat mission design, Very Low Earth Orbit applications for Earth Observation and Moon/Mars mission architecture. I see SONet as a sci-fi portal to help build the future!
Projects : Mars mission architecture optimisation ; space resources ; space science communication.
Contact : miquel.sureda at upc.edu, Twitter: @Gaia_Ciencia