Garvey McIntosh

Asia representative, NASA

Garvey McIntosh is currently the NASA Asia Representative based at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. In this capacity he is responsible for coordination of NASA programs and interests in Japan and other countries within the Asia Pacific Region. He also works with regional aerospace officials on key programs and serves as point of contact for NASA related meetings and travel in the region.

Since joining NASA in the Office of International and Interagency Relations (OIIR) in 2003, Garvey has accumulated a broad range of experience. While in OIIR, he has negotiated and completed agreements with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA’s other international partners on the Space Shuttle, International Space Station, high-energy physics and astronomy.

In 2016, Garvey led negotiations that resulted in the signing of NASA’s first new agreement with China in over 20 years. He gained valuable experience during a one-year detail assignment in which he served as the Executive Officer to the NASA Deputy Administrator. In this capacity, he was responsible for providing overall leadership, planning, and policy direction to NASA’s Headquarters and Field Centers. Prior to coming to NASA, Garvey studied economic policy and language in Vietnam as a Boren Fellow, He also spent 4 years in Nagasaki, Japan, where he taught English conversation and composition.

Garvey received his graduate degree in International Policy Studies from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California, and his undergraduate degree in Communications Studies from Northeastern University in Boston. Garvey’s wife is Melanie McIntosh and they have two children Anya (11) and Graeson (8). He speaks Japanese, Vietnamese and Dutch.

Norishige Kanai

JAXA Astronaut

KANAI Norishige Today

Currently involved in the operation and control of Kibo as J-COM (controller of correspondence with astronauts), while providing mission and mission preparation support to Japanese astronauts.

Background

KANAI Norishige was born in Tokyo in 1976, and stayed in space for 168 days between December 2017 and June 2018 as a Flight Engineer of Expeditions 54 and 55. In addition to various experimental activities under the mission theme “Discovering clues about health longevity in space”, he also performed an extravehicular activity and captured the SpX-14 Dragon spacecraft using the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS), Canadian Arm2.

Naoko Yamazaki

Former JAXA astronaut
Representative Director, Space Port Japan Association

Yamazaki earned a Master of Engineering degree from University of Tokyo in 1996, then started working for Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). On April 5, 2010 Yamazaki was onboard Space Shuttle Discovery on the crew of STS-131, an assembly & resupply mission to the International Space Station.

After retiring from JAXA in 2011, Yamazaki has been serving as a member of Space Policy Committee of Cabinet Office and Yamazaki co-founded Space Port Japan Association in 2018 and is serving as its representative director.

Shoji Kodama

Senior Staff Writer, Nikkei Inc.

Cover genre

Science and Technology / Astronomy / Space Development / Volcanoes / Earthquakes

The incumbent is an editorial board member. He studied astrophysics at the Faculty of Science, Kyoto University. He has been interviewing for more than 30 years, focusing on cutting-edge science such as astrophysics and physics, and high-tech industries such as IT and electronics, and has served as Tsukuba bureau chief. He was also in charge of the electronic version of the video commentary. His hobbies are science fiction and music. He wants to convey the latest science and technology in an easy-to-understand manner and from a wide range of perspectives such as economy, society and security. He was a part-time lecturer at Tokyo Institute of Technology from October 2016 to March 2017, and a part-time lecturer at Sophia University from September 2020 to March 2009.

Peter Platzer

CEO, Spire Global

Peter Platzer co-founded Spire in 2012 with a vision to provide satellite-powered data solutions to problems on earth. The company’s audacious goal is to double global GDP growth by eliminating the negative economic impact from inaccurate weather forecasts in the era of Climate Change. Platzer is now regarded as one of the pioneers in launching small form factor satellites into space and was named by President Obama a White House Champion of Change in 2013.

Prior to launching Spire, Peter trained at CERN and the Max Planck Institute before turning to business with the Boston Consulting Group in Europe and Asia, and serving as a quantitative investment manager for almost a decade on Wall Street.

Peter received an M.S. in Physics from the Technical University of Vienna, an M.B.A. from Harvard, where he was a Baker scholar, and an MSc cum laude in Space Science from ISU Strasbourg. He also serves as a Career Coach at Harvard Business School. His publications and patents span Computational Physics, Nano-satellite Technologies, and climate change adaptation. He currently lives happily in Luxembourg with his wife Theresa, daughters Alex and Asta, and cats Wolferl and Nannerl.

Craig McGilvray

Asia Managing Director, Space, Lockheed Martin

Craig McGilvray is Managing Director for Lockheed Martin’s Space business in Asia.

Responsible for developing product and country strategies for the business’ portfolio across the region, Craig also leads the identification and qualification of new business opportunities and ventures within Asia.

Craig first joined Lockheed Martin in 2016 as Regional Commercial Sales Director for Asia and the Pacific, with a mandate for developing strategies for commercial communication programs.

Prior to joining Lockheed Martin, Craig served as Executive Vice President and Head of Space for Asia Pacific at Aon for over a decade. In that role, he directed the insurance, re-insurance, and risk management program development in Asia Pacific while also leading Aon’s Space Global Consulting Group, focused on guiding and advising financial services industry players looking to invest in Space.

Before his time with Aon, Craig worked at Australia and New Zealand Banking Corporation and General Electric Commercial where he developed banking and finance expertise at the corporate and institutional levels.

With close to two decades of deep expertise in this sector, including an extensive network in both Commercial, and Government and Military Space and a strong foundation in finance, Craig is a specialist in shepherding, managing, and completing large complex transactions in the Space industry.

Takeshi Hakamada

Founder & CEO, ispace

Inspired by Star Wars as a child, Takeshi Hakamada set out to pursue a life focused on space exploration. He went on to earn a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech, where he was involved in the conceptual design of next-generation aerospace systems. Starting in 2010, while working for a management consulting firm, he worked part-time to lead the Japanese team, HAKUTO, one of the finalists for the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition, and changed the team’s management to ispace, inc. As Founder & CEO of ispace, Takeshi has raised record fundraising for the company and is now leading a multinational commercial lunar exploration program, known as HAKUTO-R. An active proponent for the commercial space industry, Takeshi is guiding ispace to continuously challenge itself to enable humans to establish a sustainable ecosystem between the Earth and the Moon by unlocking the utilization of space resources.

Arthur William (Bill) Beckman

Director, NASA Programs,
Global Sales and Marketing, Boeing

Bill Beckman is the director of NASA programs for Boeing Global Sales and Marketing. He has over thirty years of experience across all aspects of the aerospace industry include design, manufacturing, test, flight, federal funding, policy and regulation, as well as experience in civil, commercial and defense sectors.

Prior to joining Global Sales and Marketing, Beckman was the director of NASA programs for Boeing Government Operations, and was responsible for development, implementation, and support of Capitol-based campaigns to sustain overall industry growth and company objectives for future competitive opportunities. Working with Executive Branch offices, and Legislative Branch activities, he helped to shape the future of human space exploration through capabilities and systems development in support of NASA.

He began his career at Rockwell International’s Rocketdyne in Canoga Park, CA and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, working first as an engineer, then program management and industry advocacy.

A graduate of the Purdue University, Bill holds a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical and aerospace engineering, with an MBA from Loyola University of Chicago.

He is the President of the National Space Club, and a member of the FAA - Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC), Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), American Institue of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and American Astronautics Society (AAS).

Bill Nelson

NASA administrator

Sen. Bill Nelson was sworn in as the 14th NASA administrator on May 3, 2021, tasked with carrying out the Biden-Harris administration’s vision for the agency.

Nelson chaired the Space Subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives for six years and later served as the Ranking Member on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, where he was recognized as the leading space program advocate in Congress.

During his time in Congress, Nelson was a strong advocate for NASA’s Earth science programs and authored numerous pieces of legislation to combat and mitigate the effects of climate change. Nelson was also a vocal proponent for STEM career training and education programs to create and fill the jobs of the future.

In 2010, Nelson and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas) passed the landmark NASA legislation that mapped out a new future for NASA and set the agency on its present dual course of both government and commercial missions. In 2017, Nelson and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) authored the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017, which expanded NASA’s commercial activities in space. After leaving the Senate, Nelson continued to be engaged in NASA activities, serving on the NASA Advisory Council under former Administrator Jim Bridenstine.

From president of 4-H to international president of the Key Club in high school, Nelson has always known the importance of investing in your neighbors and community to create a better future. Nelson continued to serve his community and country while in college at the University of Florida, Yale, and University of Virginia Law School through various service organizations, school leadership positions. He served on active duty as a Captain in the U.S. Army.

Nelson has served in public office over four decades, first in the state legislature and U.S. Congress, then as State Treasurer. He was elected three times to the United States Senate, representing Florida for 18 years. His committees included the breadth of government policy from defense, intelligence and foreign policy to finance, commerce, and health care.

In 1986 he flew on the 24th flight of the Space Shuttle. The mission on Columbia orbited the earth 98 times over six days. Nelson conducted 12 medical experiments including the first American stress test in space and a cancer research experiment sponsored by university researchers.

In 1971, Bill met Grace Cavert of Jacksonville, Florida, while speaking at a statewide young leader convention. Grace has been an active partner in Bill’s public service career. From his first race for a seat in the Florida Legislature, Grace has been by his side knocking on doors and talking to folks about issues that mattered to them and their families. They have two grown children, Bill Jr. and Nan Ellen.

Shinsuke Suematsu

Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

Date of Birth: December 17, 1955
Place of Birth: Hyogo Prefecture

Member of the House of Councillors
Hyogo Prefecture (3 terms)

Education and Career:

Sho Nakanose

GITAI　Founder & CEO

Sho Nakanose started developing a prototype of a general-purpose work robot for space in 2016 with the aim of providing an inexpensive and safe means of working in space. In the same year, he founded GITAI, a space robotics startup.

Sho was selected as one of the awardees by "Innovators Under 35 Japan 2020" hosted by MIT Technology Review. He is also the first Japanese to be selected for the main program (Global Solutions Program) of Singularity University at NASA Ames Research Center in the US. Prior to GITAI, Sho founded an IT venture in India as Founder & CEO in 2013, which he sold in 2016. Prior to entering the startup industry, he worked as a System Engineer at IBM Japan.

Yasuhito Sekine

Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI), Tokyo Institute of Technology, Vice-director/Professor

Yasuhito Sekine was born in 1978. He received a Ph.D from University Tokyo in 2006. After working as an associate professor of Univ. Tokyo, He became a professor of Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI), Tokyo Tech. He is studying the origins and evolution of both planetary atmospheres and oceans and the habitability in the Solar System. He revealed the presence of on-going hydrothermal systems in Saturn’s moon, Enceladus, in 2015.

Raymond F. Greene

Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, U.S. Embassy Tokyo

Raymond F. Greene assumed duties as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, U.S. Embassy Tokyo on July 17, 2021. Prior to this assignment, he was the Deputy Director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Mr. Greene is a member of the State Department’s Senior Foreign Service and has spent his entire 25-year career advancing U.S. diplomatic, economic, and security engagement with the Indo-Pacific region. In Washington, Mr. Greene was Director for Japan and East Asian Economic Affairs at National Security Council and Director of the Office of Economic Policy in the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. In the latter capacity, Mr. Greene was elected as Chairman of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum’s Economic Committee.

Overseas, Mr. Greene served as U.S. Consul General in Chengdu, China and Okinawa, Japan. Earlier assignments included Chief of the Political-Military Affairs Unit at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Deputy Chief of the Political Section at AIT Taipei, and as a political officer in Tokyo and Manila. Mr. Greene was the first Baker-Kato Diplomatic Exchange Fellow at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo. He also was assigned as a State Department Faculty Advisor at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Mr. Greene holds a B.A. (Government/Japanese) and M.P.M. (International Security and Economic Policy) from the University of Maryland, College Park. He is the recipient of the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Medal, the Ryozo Kato Award for Advancing the U.S.-Japan Alliance, the Friendship Medal of Diplomacy (Taiwan), and several State Department Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards. Before joining the State Department, Mr. Greene was a researcher at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, DC and spent a year in Yokohama on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program. Mr. Greene speaks Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. Mr. Greene is married to the former Yawen Ko.

Lori Glaze

Planetary Science Division Director, NASA

Dr. Lori Glaze is the Director of NASA's Science Mission Directorate’s Planetary Science Division. Planetary Science is focused on space flight missions and scientific research that address fundamental questions of solar system formation and evolution, including understanding planetary environments that can (or could have in the past) support life.

Prior to headquarters, Dr. Glaze served as the chief of the Planetary Geology, Geophysics and Geochemistry Laboratory at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and as the Deputy Director of Goddard’s Solar System Exploration Division.

Her research interests include physical processes in terrestrial and planetary volcanology, atmospheric transport and diffusion processes, and geologic mass movements. Her work focuses on data analysis and theoretical modeling of surface processes on all the terrestrial solar system bodies, particularly the Earth, Venus, Mars, Moon, and Io. She develops statistical, analytical, and data management methods in support of physical process modeling and develops applications of diverse sets of terrestrial and planetary remote sensing data.

Dr. Glaze was a member of the Inner Planets Panel during the most recent Planetary Science Decadal Survey, and has had a role on the Executive Committee of NASA's Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG) for several years, serving as the group's Chair from 2013 - 2017. Dr. Glaze was a member of the Planetary Science Subcommittee from 2011 to 2013.

She has been involved with many NASA-sponsored Venus mission concept formulation studies, including as a member of the Venus Flagship Science and Technology Definition Team (2009), as Science Champion for the Venus Mobile Explorer (2010), and Co-Science Champion for the Venus Intrepid Tessera Lander (2010). Until her move to headquarters, she also was the Principal Investigator of the Deep Atmosphere Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging (DAVINCI).

Dr. Glaze was born in Texas. She graduated from the University of Texas, Arlington with a BA and MS in Physics. She received a PhD in Environmental Science from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. She has also previously worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and at Proxemy Research as Vice President and Senior Research Scientist.

Motoyuki Arai

Founder & CEO, Synspective

Dr. Motoyuki Arai began his career working at a US-based consulting firm in Tokyo, Japan for 5 years to support more than 15 global companies to design new business and technology strategies, to formulate corporate governance and to build the internal controls necessary to run global companies.

He received his Ph.D. in Technology Management for Innovation from the University of Tokyo. During his time there, he focused his research on construction of energy systems to promote economic growth in developing countries. He then implemented his knowledge of business development to solve social issues in areas such as energy, water and sanitation, agriculture, and recycling in Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Laos, Cambodia, Kenya, Tanzania, and the devastated areas of Japan.

Hiroshi Yamakawa

JAXA President

Nobu Okada

Founder & CEO, Astroscale Holdings

Nobu Okada founded Astroscale in 2013 due to a strong desire to address the growing threat of space debris. He used his personal funds as seed money and hired a team in Singapore in 2013 and opened an R&D office in Japan in 2015, a UK office in 2017, a US office in 2019, and an Israeli office in 2020, whilst raising US $191M capital. The team calls themselves, “Space Sweepers” and their mission is to secure safe and sustainable development of space for the benefit of future generations.

Nobu is the International Astronautical Federation’s Vice President for Space Economy and Sponsorship, member of the International Academy of Astronautics, member of the Space Generation Advisory Council Advisory Board, and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He also served as a member of the Subcommittee on Space Civil Use, and Space Industry at the Cabinet Office for the Government of Japan. Nobu was awarded Company Leader of the Year at the 2020 SpaceNews Awards, Grand Prix during the UNESCO Netexplo Innovation Forum 2020, Forbes JAPAN “Start-up of The Year 2019” and Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum in 2017.

Prior to founding Astroscale, Nobu was an IT entrepreneur and strategy consultant, and had managed IT companies in Japan, China, India and Singapore. He led one company to a successful IPO. Before joining the IT industry, he worked for McKinsey & Company and the Japanese Government in the Ministry of Finance. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from the University of Tokyo in 1995 and an MBA from the Krannert School of Business, Purdue University in 2001.

When he was a teenager, Nobu attended a camp at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in the United States where he met Japan’s first astronaut, Mamoru Mohri. He received the handwritten message, “Space is waiting for your challenge.” and has been inspired to work on space ever since.

Yuichi Tsuda

Professor, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, JAXA

Dr. Tsuda completed the Ph.D. in Astronautical Engineering, the University of Tokyo in 2003. He served as the deputy project manager of IKAROS mission, the former project engineer and currently the project manager of Hayabusa2 mission, and also joined numerous space missions such as the world-first CubeSat mission, M-V rockets, S310 sounding rocket and Hayabusa.