Space Science and Emerging Space Technologies

Dr. Vladimir Pletser earned a Master of Engineering in Mechanics (1979), a Master of Sciences in Geophysics (1980), and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics (1990) from the University of Louvain, Belgium. He currently serves as Director of Space Training Operations at Nautexe Global. Previously, he worked for 30 years at the European Space Agency (ESA) as Senior Physicist–Engineer and was responsible for the ESA aircraft parabolic flight program. He has participated in thousands of microgravity flights and holds a Guinness World Record for the number of aircraft used in parabolic flight campaigns. He has served as Visiting Professor and Scientific Adviser at several international institutions and has contributed extensively to space research, astronaut training, and microgravity sciences.

Dr. Mehdi Abedi-Varaki is a Senior Researcher at the Center for Physical Sciences and Technology (FTMC), Vilnius, Lithuania. He received his Ph.D. in Atomic and Molecular Physics (Plasma Physics) from the University of Guilan, Iran. His research focuses on plasma physics, laser-plasma interactions, plasma accelerators, terahertz radiation, nonlinear optics, computational plasma physics, and artificial intelligence applications in plasma science. He has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed journal articles, several book chapters, and serves as a reviewer and editorial board member for numerous international journals. He has received multiple competitive research grants and actively participates in international scientific collaborations and conferences.

Dr. Toshtay Kainaubek is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Chemistry, Catalysis and Petrochemistry at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan. He also serves as the Head of the Laboratory of Catalytic Hydrogenation of Polymers and Oils and the Accredited Test Laboratory "MASLOTEST." He obtained his Ph.D. in Chemical Technology of Organic Substances from the Kazakh-British Technical University. His research focuses on catalysis, petrochemistry, nanomaterials, hydrogenation technologies, environmental remediation, water purification, energy materials, and green space propulsion. He has authored more than 40 publications in Scopus and Web of Science indexed journals, several book chapters, patents, and has participated in numerous nationally funded research projects.