SPACE RESOURCES PROFESSIONAL COURSE

Chris Welch is Professor of Space Engineering at the International University in Strasbourg, France. He has a PhD in Spacecraft Engineering (Cranfield University), an MSc in Experimental Space Physics (University of Leicester) and a BSc in Physics (Cardiff University). His research interests are in space propulsion, microgravity science and planetary exploration. Chris is a former Vice-President of the International Astronautical Federation and member of European Commission H2020 Space Advisory Committee. He is also a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society (BIS), the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Royal Astronomical Society respectively. Chris sits on a number of boards including the BIS, the Spacelink Learning Foundation and the Aluna Foundation, is an advisor to the Initiative for Interstellar Studies and the Moon Village Association, and is Vice Chair of the World Space Week Association. He has extensive media experience and a significant track record in both space education and outreach and higher education, receiving the 2009 Sir Arthur Clarke Award for Space Education and 2015 IAF Distinguished Service Award.

Angel Abbud-Madrid is the Director of the Center for Space Resources at the Colorado School of Mines, where he leads a research and academic program focused on the human and robotic exploration of space and the utilization of its resources. He has more than 30 years of experience conducting experiments in NASA’s low-gravity facilities, such as drop towers, parabolic-flight aircraft, the Space Shuttle, and the International Space Station and received the NASA Astronauts’ Personal Achievement Award in 2004 for his contributions to the success of human space flight. He holds a B.S.E. degree in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from ITESM, México and Master's and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering from Princeton University and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Abbud-Madrid is the President of the Space Resources Roundtable, an international organization focused on lunar, asteroidal, and planetary resource studies. He was an Observer and Technical Panel member of The Hague International Space Resources Governance Working Group and is currently a member of the Committee on Planetary Protection of the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Dr Mathias Link is a Director at the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA), where he works on the definition and implementation of Luxembourg’s space policy, with a focus on international affairs, legal & regulatory issues, research and education, as well as finance. He coordinates the SpaceResources.lu initiative that aims to promote the exploration and utilization of space resources. He is also Director at interim of the European Space Resources Innovation Centre (ESRIC), an initiative of LSA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST). For more than 10 years, he has represented Luxembourg in space-related boards and committees at the European Union (EU), ESA and the United Nations. He was involved in the preparation of several ESA Council meetings at Ministerial level, as well as of Luxembourg's presidency of the Council of the EU in 2015. He was also a member of the Hague International Space Resources Governance Working Group. He holds a PhD in physics from the Université de Lorraine, and a Master in engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne.

Christopher Dreyer is the Associate Director for Engineering of the Center for Space Resources and faculty member of the Space Resources Program at the Colorado School of Mines, where he leads a variety of fundamental and technology development projects on space resources. He has experience with experimental methods, vacuum systems, regolith handling technology, space resources extraction methods, instrument design, sensor development, and optical/laser spectroscopy methods. His focus is on space resources and space exploration systems that make direct contact with extraterrestrial surfaces for characterization and resource extraction. He has been actively working in the space resource field for over 20 years. He holds a B.S.E. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University and Master's and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Dreyer is currently the Vice Chair of the American Institute of Astronautics and Aeronautics Space Resources Technical Committee and Member of the Executive Committee of the Aerospace Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Alexandre Meurisse is a Research Fellow at the European Space Research and Technology Centre of the European Space Agency (ESA-ESTEC), where he uses his expertise in In-Situ Resource Utilisation (ISRU) to identify science knowledge gaps in the space resources value chain and support the development of ISRU demonstrations in space.
After a Master in materials engineering and science in France and Russia, he developed additive manufacturing technology for solar sintering of lunar regolith during his PhD at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), During this time, he was also involved in microgravity granular physics research and joined drop tower and parabolic flights campaigns. In his research fellowship at ESA, he now advances research on molten salts base electrolysis processes for extracting oxygen from lunar regolith. He also was the main guest editor of the Space Resources special issue in Planetary and Space Science journal.