NASA Ames-JAXA B2B Forum for Space Innovation

Dr. Eugene Tu is the NASA Ames Center Director, leading a work force of 3,000 civil servants and contractors providing critical R&D support for NASA's mission. Previously, Tu was the Director of Exploration Technology at Ames. He has also served as the deputy program manager for NASA’s IT Base Research Program and program manager for the High Performance Computing and Communications Program. When the two programs were combined into the Computing, Information and Communication Technology Program, he was selected as Program Manager. Tu holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the UC Berkeley and a Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford. He is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Tu has received the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal and the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executive.

IWAMOTO Hiroyuki has been Director of Business Development and Industrial Relations Department at JAXA since July 2018.
Hiroyuki brings almost 30 years' experience in the space sector, initially as a support member of International Space Station at Tsukuba Space Center, Japan and moving into a space business development role for the past ten years.
He has held roles at Industrial Collaboration and Coordination Department in JAXA and proven experience in building innovative framework for space business and industry.
In 2010, Hiroyuki was appointed Manager of Industrial Collaboration Center, and during that time, played a major role in leading spin-off strategy and setting up JAXA Open Laboratory which enhanced the entry of private companies into the space market.

Dr. David Korsmeyer is the NASA Ames Associate Center Director for Research and Technology. He is responsible for the overall scope and direction of Ames’ research, technology, and engineering developments. Dr. Korsmeyer formerly served as Ames Director of Engineering, where he successfully oversaw the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), Network & Operation Demonstration Satellite (NODeS), the Biosentinel Project, and numerous space biology instrumentation missions on the International Space Station and as free-flyers. Dr. Korsmeyer also served as Chief of Ames’ Intelligent Systems Division. He earned his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Pennsylvania State University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from The University of Texas in Austin. He is a Sloan Fellow with a Master’s degree in Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

ISHIGA Motohide, Head of Industrial Relations, Business Development and Industrial Relations Department at JAXA, has 20 years' experience in JAXA, which have been international relations promotion, aviation research support, external relations for Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) project, as well as governmental relations.
After temporary assignment in Mitsubishi Corporation, in charge of business development of remote sensing service using drone (Skymatix corporation), he was back to JAXA (Business Development and Industrial Relations Dept.) in 2017, and appointed as Head of Industrial Relations in August 2020.

Michael Fletcher has been the Technical Advisor to the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) Partnerships Office in the Silicon Valley since July 2017. Concurrently, since August 2019, Mr. Fletcher has been detailed to the Office of the Chief Engineer and in March 2020 was selected to be the Chief Engineer (acting) for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD), at NASA Headquarters (HQ). Mr. Fletcher is a former Mansfield Fellow and spent a year in Japan from 2016-2017 working at MEXT, CAO, MOD and JAXA on topics of space and aeronautics policy. He began his career at NASA in 1990 and has held positions as a researcher, systems engineer and project manager.

Daniel Faber is the Founding CEO of Orbit Fab, building Gas Stations in Space. Daniel has over 20 years of space technology leadership, building and launching a dozen satellites for asteroid searches, environmental monitoring, telecommunications and human habitation. As a serial entrepreneur, his first company developed a unique mining instrumentation technology utilizing gamma ray spectroscopy, following which he worked on nuclear fusion reactors and then Antarctic communications. Familiar with the economics of deep-sea mining, Mr. Faber became CEO of Deep Space Industries where he secured millions in financing from VC and governments and grew sales from zero to nearly $10 million. With DSI he successfully changed global perceptions and regulations around space resources and positioned the company to systematically create and commercialize technology for asteroid mining.

Peter Marquez is the Head of Space Policy at Amazon Web Services where he oversees global space policy activities for Amazon Web Service’s space products and services.
Peter also serves a senior advisor to the U.S. National Space Council. Peter supports the National Space Council in the areas of space policy, strategy, and international space cooperation.
Peter previously worked in the space industry as the Managing Partner of Andart Global, U.S., the Vice President of Global Engagement for Planetary Resources, and the Vice President for Strategy at Orbital Sciences Corporation. Peter has served at the White House for the previous two Administrations and was the Director for Space Policy for Presidents Bush and Obama. Peter was responsible for the development, implementation, and coordination of the U.S. national space policies.
Before his time at the White House, Peter served for a decade in the Pentagon on a variety of space and classified programs for the Air Force and Office of the Secretary of defense.

Kyle Acierno is an international expert in commercial space and a specialist in lunar exploration. He acts as the CEO of ispace technologies, US and previously served as the Vice President of Global Sales & Strategy in Tokyo as well as the Managing Director of ispace Europe. ispace managed the front-running competitor in the Google Lunar XPRIZE, Team Hakuto and has raised over $120M USD to build a lunar transportation system, including a lander and a rover.

Earning a Ph.D. in Astronomy at Kobe University Graduate School of Science and Technology, Yuske started his professional career joining Hitachi Solutions where he was engaged in systems engineering and then to international sales of Interactive Whiteboards for the Oceania region.
After working at YSI/Nanotech as a sales engineer for water quality instruments and doppler flow meters, he came back to the space industry and joined JAMSS (Japan Manned Space Systems) to become an instructor for Astronaut and Flight Controller training. He later was seconded to JAXA to provide training support for the JAXA Astronauts, especially Norishige Kanai, in preparation for his mission on board the International Space Station (Exp 54/55). Yuske decided it was time for him to return to the private sector, and after working at Astroscale and next at Space BD, he joined GITAI Inc. in May of 2019.

Michael Fletcher has been the Technical Advisor to the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) Partnerships Office in the Silicon Valley since July 2017. Concurrently, since August 2019, Mr. Fletcher has been detailed to the Office of the Chief Engineer and in March 2020 was selected to be the Chief Engineer (acting) for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD), at NASA Headquarters (HQ). Mr. Fletcher is a former Mansfield Fellow and spent a year in Japan from 2016-2017 working at MEXT, CAO, MOD and JAXA on topics of space and aeronautics policy. He began his career at NASA in 1990 and has held positions as a researcher, systems engineer and project manager.

Curt Blake is chief executive officer of Spaceflight’s launch services group and previously served as senior vice president and general counsel. Curt has led efforts to expand Spaceflight’s global network of launch service providers while building relationships with key commercial-, civilian- and defense-related customers. Over the last several years, Curt oversaw the company’s growth from its early commercial rideshare launches on the Antares and Soyuz vehicles to become the industry’s rideshare leader and the world’s first commercial spaceline.
Curt brings more than 25 years of executive experience in high-growth and tech industries, with past experience including a range of senior executive and general counsel roles at Microsoft, Starwave, Corbis and Aldus. He’s a current and active board member of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation and the Seattle-based Pacific Science Center, as well as a contributor to numerous small-satellite conferences.

Dr. Harry Partridge is the Ames Center Chief Technologist, and as such identifies, defines, develops and integrates emerging technologies for application to Agency and national goals through the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate. Harry serves as the principal advisor to Center leadership on matters concerning Center-wide technology development and leverage. Previously, Harry was the Deputy Director of the Game Changing Technology Division at NASA Headquarters. He has also been the Deputy Director of the Ames Entry Systems and Technology Division and Program Manager for the Bio-nano Project within the Computing, Information and Communications Technology Program. Harry received his Ph.D. from Indiana University in Chemical Physics and has published approximately 190 papers in computational chemistry.

Dr. Jacob Cohen is the Chief Scientist at NASA Ames. Dr. Cohen oversees Center research and serves as the principal Center advisor for long term, high risk innovative programs. He sets priorities to ensure Center research programs contribute effectively to national objectives. Dr. Cohen serves as the chief advisor to the Center Director on all areas affecting science at the Center. As part of his interest in the utilization of space for scientific advancements, Dr. Cohen develops collaborations to sustain creative research initiatives. Dr. Cohen received his Ph.D. from New York University in molecular evolution and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in viral host relationships. Mentoring, teaching and inspiring the next generation of scientists and managers are continuous roles Dr. Cohen pursues.

Karen Bradford is the Director of the Partnership Office at NASA Ames with 30 plus years of civil service. Prior assignments at Ames include Center Chief of Staff for over 11 years, Resource Management Analyst for the Center Director’s Office, Associate Director for the Astrobiology Strategic Analysis and Support Office with duties that included serving as the Lead Project Manager for the Astrobiology Science Conference 2006, and Executive Assistant to Dr. Baruch Blumberg, Nobel Laureate and Director, NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) where she helped plan, implement, and served as project lead for the first NAI Minority Institution Faculty Sabbatical.

Nobu founded Astroscale in 2013 due to a desire to address the growing threat of space debris.He used his personal funds and hired a team in Singapore, Japan, UK, and US whilst raising capital of 142M USD as of September 2020.
Nobu is the co-chair of The Future of Space Technologies Council, World Economic Forum and is also a member of the International Astronautical Federation and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Prior to founding Astroscale, he was an IT entrepreneur and executive.
Nobu has a B.S. from the University of Tokyo and an MBA from Purdue University.
When he was a teenager, Nobu attended a camp at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center where he met Japan’s first astronaut, Mr. Mamoru Mohri. He received the handwritten message, “Space is waiting for your challenge.” and he has been inspired to work on space ever since.

I became interested in space after hearing Yuya Nakamura, the CEO, talk about the space business on television. I now work and engage every day with this incredible team, and I’ve made it my personal mission to offer novel possibilities for our clients’ business, constantly creating entirely new value for them. Also, I want to challenge the limits of global business by pushing our micro-satellite technology to its full potential.