Opening Ceremony and Plenary Session
Monday 2 December
08:45-12:00
8:45 AM - 9:00 AM
Welcome and Introduction
Upendra N. Singh, NASA Langley Research Ctr. (United States)
Upendra N. Singh, NASA Technical Fellow for Sensors and Instrumentation at the NASA Engineering and Safety Center, NASA Langley Research Center is an internationally recognized atmospheric scientist and laser remote sensing expert with 30 years' experience. In last two decades, Dr. Singh has organized more than 30 international symposia/conferences and has authored/co-authored over 300 scientific articles in atmospheric sciences and remote sensing area.
09:00 AM - 09:30 AM
Plenary 1
Jong-Shinn Wu, Director General, Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) (Taiwan)
Jong-Shinn Wu received his MS and BS degrees both in Mech. Eng. of National Taiwan University, Taiwan, in 1986 and 1988, respectively, and his Ph.D. in Aerospace Eng., U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, in 1994. Then he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow until 1995 in the same department. Later he worked at the NSPO of Taiwan for two years. He then joined the Dept. of Mech. Eng. of NCTU, Taiwan, in 1998 till now as a Distinguished Professor and the director of ARRC. He has worked on rarefied gas dynamics, low-temperature plasma physics, kinetic-based numerical schemes, hybrid rocket propulsion, plasma medicine, and parallel scientific computing. He has published >150 journal papers until now (May 2024). He has been constantly invited to give lectures in parallel simulation of plasma and rarefied gas dynamics internationally (6 keynotes and > 30 invited talks). Recently, he received the most prestigious 2018 Outstanding Research Award of MOST (Ministry of Science & Technology), Taiwan. He is now an ASME Fellow, AIAA Associate Fellow, IEEE Senior Member, AIAA Hybrid Rocket Technical Committee member, and Emerging Plasma Nanotechnologies (TC 17 member) of the IEEE Nanotechnology Council. He was the associate editor of the International Journal of Plasma Science & Engineering (2008-2010), an editorial board member of Coatings, Int. J. Theoretical & Applied Mechanics (2006~) and a guest editor of Computers & Fluids (2010-2012), IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (2014-2016), and Journal of Computers and Mathematics with Applications (2015-2016). He has been a member of the Advisory/Organizing Committee of many important international conferences for the past 10 years. He became the Director General of NSPO (National Space Organization), Taiwan in 2021. NSPO was transformed as TASA (Taiwan Space Agency) in January 2023.
09:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Plenary 2 (Live Remote)
Jack A. Kaye, Associate Director for Research, Science Mission Directorate/Earth Science Division, NASA Headquarters (United States)
Jack Kaye currently serves as associate director for research of the Earth Science Division (ESD) within NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD). He has been a member of the Senior Executive Service since August, 1999, managing NASA's Earth Science Research Program. As associate director for research, Kaye is responsible for the research and data analysis programs for Earth System Science, covering the broad spectrum of scientific disciplines that constitute it. Earlier positions in his more than 38-year career at NASA include being a space scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center and manager of the Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling and Analysis Program at NASA Headquarters. In addition, Kaye has held temporary acting positions as deputy director of ESD and deputy chief scientist for Earth Science within SMD. Kaye's academic training is in chemistry (B.S. Adelphi University, 1976; Ph.D., California Institute of Technology, 1982). He also held a post-doctoral research associateship at the US Naval Research Laboratory.
Kaye represents NASA in many interagency and international activities and has been an active participant in the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), in which he has served for many years as NASA principal of the Subcommittee on Global Change Research (from January 2009 through May, 2010 he served as the acting chair for these activities). He also serves as NASA's representative to the Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology, as well as vice chair of the Expert Team on Satellite Systems and Utilization for the World Meteorological Organization. Kaye was named an honorary member of the Asia Oceania Geoscience Society in 2015. He previously completed a six-year term as a member of the Steering Committee for the Global Climate Observing System and currently serves an ex officio member of the National Research Council's Roundtable on Science and Technology for Sustainability and the Chemical Sciences Roundtable, as well as a member of the Roundtable on Global Science Diplomacy.
He has received numerous NASA awards – most recently, the Distinguished Service Medal in 2022 – and he was recognized as a Meritorious Executive in the Senior Executive Service in 2004, 2010, and 2021. He was named as a Fellow by the American Meteorological Society (AMS) in 2010 and by the American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2014. Kaye was elected to serve as an office of the Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Science section of the AAAS (2015-2018) and co-secretary of the Atmospheric Sciences Section of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) for 1998-2000 and earlier served on the AGU Publications Committee. AGU has recognized him on two occasions with a Citation for Excellence in Refereeing. Kaye has published more than 50 refereed papers, contributed to numerous reports, books, and encyclopedias, and edited the book Isotope Effects in Gas-Phase Chemistry for the American Chemical Society. In addition, he has attended the Leadership for Democratic Society program at the Federal Executive Institute and the Harvard Senior Managers in Government Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Enabling technology for Space-based remote sensing for science and exploration
Clayton P. Turner, Associate Administrator (acting), Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters (United States)
Clayton Turner, as Acting Associate Administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate, oversees executive leadership, strategic planning, and overall management of all technology maturation and demonstration programs executed from the Directorate enabling critical space focused technologies that deliver today and help create tomorrow. Clayton served as the Director of NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia from 2019-2024. He led a diverse group of civil servant and contractor scientists, researchers, engineers and support staff, who worked to make revolutionary improvements to aviation, expand understanding of Earth's atmosphere, develop new technologies for space exploration, and contribute to NASA's broader exploration mission.
Clayton has served the Agency for more than thirty years. He has held several roles at NASA Langley, including systems engineer, Chief Engineer, Engineering Director, Associate Center Director, and Deputy Center Director. After graduation from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in 1990, Turner began his career with NASA serving as a design engineer with the Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment project, where he spearheaded development of the laser aligning, bore-sight limit system. Through his career, he has worked on many projects for the Agency including the Earth Science Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation Project; the Earth observing technology development Gas and Aerosol Monitoring Sensorcraft Project; the materials technology development Gas Permeable Polymer Materials Project; the Space Shuttle Program Return-to-Flight; the flight test of the Ares 1-X rocket; the flight test of the Orion Launch Abort System; and the entry, decent and landing segment of the Mars Science Laboratory.
Clayton has received many prestigious awards such as the Presidential Rank Award, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, the NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal, the Paul F. Holloway Non-Aerospace Technology Transfer Award, and RIT's College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni award. He is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and he is also a member of the RIT Board of Trustees.
10:30 AM - 11:00 AM: Coffee/Tea Break
11:00 AM - 11:30 AM
JAXA's Earth Observation Program: current missions and international cooperation
Futoshi Takiguchi, Vice President, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) (Japan)
JAXA is a core implementing agency that supports the Japanese government's overall aerospace development and application. Through development and operation of various Earth observation satellites, JAXA has contributed to observation of global land surface, oceans, and atmosphere, accumulating satellite data for over thirty years, and sharing these data globally. Fully maximizing the value of Earth observation satellites, JAXA also focuses on demonstrating the application of satellite data to address the societal challenges, such as disaster risk reduction and climate change, which Asia region faces as urgent issues. This presentation will highlight JAXA's efforts to build a safer and more secure society using space technology. It will introduce JAXA's recent Earth observation satellite program and latest missions. Additionally, it will delve into how these satellites have contributed to disaster risk reduction, addressing environmental issues and other critical areas. It will also describe JAXA's ongoing cooperation with various space agencies, especially in Asia, such as Space Application for Environment (SAFE) under the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) and Sentinel Asia.
Futoshi Takiguchi is Vice President of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). He is appointed as Director General for Space Technology Directorate I and Director of Tsukuba Space Center, responsible for satellite development, operation, utilization, and scientific research. Mr. Takiguchi joined the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) in 1992, and he started his career as an engineer at NASDA's launcher site, the Tanegashima Space Center, and was involved in communication satellite development, promoting the use of Earth Observation satellite data for disaster management and Strategic Planning and Management at Headquarters. Prior to his current position, he led the development of governmental satellites for the National Security Program. Mr. Takiguchi graduated from the Graduate School of Osaka University, where he earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering in 1992.
11:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Plenary 5
Jongkuk Choi, Principal Researcher (Director), Korea Ocean Satellite Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology (KIOST) (Republic of Korea)
Jongkuk Choi is Principal Researcher (Director), at Korea Ocean Satellite Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology (KIOST). His main work consists of GOCI-based PAR, Satellite-based Water Quality, and Ocean color based Ecological Environment.