KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Michael Edwards
Boeing Research & Technology – Asia Pacific
Read Their Biography
Michael Edwards joined The Boeing Company in August 2011 and is the Senior Director of Boeing Research & Technology Asia Pacific. He carries executive responsibility for the delivery of the Company’s research portfolio in the region (excluding China). Michael oversees a highly collaborative research team focused on creating the future for the Boeing enterprise globally. In his capacity as Senior Director of BR&T – Asia Pacific Michael is a member of the BR&T Global Technology Leadership Team as well as the Boeing Australia Enterprise Leadership Team.
Prior to joining Boeing Michael worked with the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) for 11 years. At CSIRO he held the position of General Manager, CSIRO Performance & Evaluation including Flagship Operations from 2008, as well as fulfilling an overseas posting as Senior Technical Advisor to Boeing based in Seattle, USA from 2005 – 2008. Michael also held the role of Business Development Manager for CSIRO Atmospheric Research based in Melbourne, Australia from 2000-2005.
Prior to his experience with CSIRO Michael also worked for some 15 years in the plastics, chemicals and petrochemicals industries in Australia, including 12 years with Orica Australia Ltd. Michael has a Bachelor of Science with a major in Chemistry from Monash University as well as a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration (Executive) from Monash Business School. Michael was awarded Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Technology & Engineering (ATSE) in 2014 and recognised with a Distinguished Leadership Award by Aviation / Aerospace Australia in 2022.
Keynote Summary
Title: Boeing Research & Technology Asia Pacific – a Focus on Enabling the Future of Sustainable Aerospace
The global aerospace industry is recovering strongly from the shocks of the COVID pandemic and is forecast to need in excess of 42,000 commercial aircraft to meet global market demand over the next 20 years. A large percentage of that demand is being fuelled by Asia Pacific growth. Defence markets across the region are also strong and growing. The drive for constant innovation across our product and service offerings is strong, and there is a particular imperative to solve grand challenges around the future of sustainable aviation in line with industry wide goals to mid-century.
The presentation will outline the large scale challenges we are addressing; show where our focus has been on growing and collaborating with world’s best capabilities across the region; and detail a number of sustainable aerospace technology developments that will underpin the future growth of our industry. Our Research Centre capabilities established across Asia Pacific over the last 15-20 years, and the strategic nature of the many partnerships we have formed in leading countries across the region, will provide the foundation for our sustainable growth as a leading aerospace company globally.
Prof Jin-Hwe Kweon
Gyeongsang National University (GNU)
Read Their Biography
Dr Kweon received a Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Seoul National University in 1987, and a Ph.D. degree in aerospace engineering from KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) in 1993. He worked as an engineer at Samsung Aerospace Industry from 1993 to 1997. Since 1997, he has served as a Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering, Gyeongsang National University (GNU), Republic of Korea. He is currently the President of GNU. He has also been serving as a member of Aviation and Railroad Accident Investigation Committee since 2021, and served as the President of the Korean Society for Composite Materials in 2023.
Keynote Summary
Title: Aerospace Industry and University in South Korea
This talks presents the latest trends in the global aerospace market from a macro perspective and briefly explains South Korea’s strategy. After more than two years of pandemic, the global aerospace industry is on the road to growth again. With the increase in travelers, the demand for civil aircraft is increasing significantly, and many countries are rushing to introduce fighter jets to strengthen their military power due to the impact of the Ukraine War. It is a natural result that the price of fighters is rising and the waiting time after ordering is getting longer. Military aircraft also include military unmanned drones. As the role of unmanned drones in combat increases, drones of various sizes and performances are being developed. Small drones are easy to manufacture and difficult to detect and intercept, so they are gaining attention as a new weapon that will change the landscape of modern warfare. At the same time, research and development for detecting and intercepting small drones is actively being conducted. In addition, new short-distance aerial mobility centered on UAM is creating new aviation demand. In order for UAM to be commercially viable, price and safety must be secured, and securing fully unmanned flight technology is essential. Despite the debate about the realistic market size of UAM, it seems likely that the enthusiasm for the UAM market will not cool down for the time being. The space industry can be divided into launch vehicles, satellites, and satellite services. Launch vehicles, as seen in Starship, are being developed with the goal of becoming larger and cheaper. In particular, the reuse of first-stage rockets has significantly reduced launch costs, making it possible to launch a large number of satellites into low Earth orbit, which has made various forms of satellite utilization services possible. The satellite service market is influenced by creativity of ideas, and how each country creates ideas that fit its own reality will determine the success or failure of the market. The economics of space exploration should be approached from a very long-term perspective, with the aim of ensuring the sustainable survival of humanity and the discovery of new resources. However, it is a field with high technical difficulty, low success rate, and long-term investment, so it is desirable for several countries to participate as a coalition. Korea is a country divided into South Korea and North Korea, and is in extreme conflict. It is also the only divided country in the world that has been divided since the modern era. South Korea and North Korea spend excessive amounts of money on defense compared to their economic power. In the past, South Korea thought that if it could reduce its defense spending, it would be able to achieve economic growth much faster than it is now. Ironically, however, in the aerospace industry, the division between South and North Korea is playing a role in creating a market of a certain size. In the case of South Korea, the subsonic basic trainer KT-1 was developed in the mid-1990s, and the supersonic advanced trainer and light attack aircraft T-50 was developed in the early 2000s. Currently, the development of the supersonic 4.5 generation fighter KF-21 has reached the final stage, and it is known that mass production will begin soon. The development of the LAH helicopter has also been completed and mass production has begun. In the case of satellites, an independent reconnaissance satellite is also being developed. The development of military aircraft and satellite mentioned above is being led by the Ministry of National Defense, but aerospace development in the private sector will be handled by the Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA), which will be newly established in 2024. KASA will not only be the control tower for aerospace-related policies, but will also have Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) under its control, directly overseeing aviation and space-related R&D activities. In the future, the growth of the aerospace industry in the private sector can be seen as dependent on the successful collaboration between KASA and private companies. Gyeongsang National University (GNU) is one of the ten Flagship National Universities in South Korea, located in Jinju, South Korea. It is located 20 to 90 minutes away by car from KASA, KAI, Hanwha, and KAL, and plays a leading role in training aerospace personnel in South Korea through cooperation with these organizations. GNU established the College of Space and Aeronautical Engineering in 2024 and has secured the highest level of research funding in the aerospace field in South Korea. It is currently operating or planning the joint degree programs with various universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Belgium, and is seeking partners for global cooperation.
Prof Jiro Kasahara
Nagoya University (NU)
Read Their Biography
Professor Jiro Kasahara is a professor of Institute of Materials and Systems for Sustainability, Nagoya University, Japan from 2019. He received PhD from the Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University at 1997. From 1997 to 1999, he was a JSPS fellow (PD) at Nagoya University. From 1999 to 2003, he was a research associate of Muroran Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical System Engineering, Japan. From 2003 to 2013, he was a lecturer, and an associate professor of University of Tsukuba, Department of Engineering Mechanics and Energy, Japan. From 2013 to 2019, He was a professor of Nagoya University, Department of Aerospace Engineering, before taking his current position. He specializes in detonation basics, and detonation engine system for aerospace propulsion.
Keynote Summary
Title: Sounding Rocket Space Flight Experiments of Detonation Engines and Its Future Development
The detonation engine generates detonation and compression waves at extremely high frequencies (1–100 kHz) to drastically increase reaction speed, leading to radical reduction of rocket engine weights and high performance by easy generation of thrust. The research group has successfully demonstrated a detonation engine in space flight. The Detonation Engine System (DES) developed in this study was loaded onto the mission section of the sounding rocket S-520-31 and launched from the JAXA Uchinoura Space Center on July 27, 2021. After the separation of the first stage rocket, the rotating detonation engine and pulse detonation engine were successfully operated in space, and photo images, pressure, temperature, vibration, position, and attitude data were acquired by telemetry and RATS (Reentry and Recovery Module with Deployable Aeroshell Technology for Sounding Rocket Experiment). The fuel is methane and the oxidizer is oxygen. The success of this space flight demonstration will bring the detonation engine much closer to practical use as a kick motor for deep space exploration, and as a first and second stage engine for rockets. In this talk, we will show the detailed flight experimental results, the next sounding rocket flight test program, and future roadmap of detonation engine development.
Prof Weiping Li
Civil Aviation Flight University of China (CAFUC)
Read Their Biography
Professor Li is the Chief Scientific Officer and University Chair Professor of Civil Aviation Flight University of China, earlier worked on mathematics, mathematical physics, financial engineering, data science and data engineering. Worked at Dalian University of Transportation, Yale University, UC Berkely and Oklahoma State University etc.
Keynote Summary
Title: Sustainable Aerospace-Oriented Development
Innovation in Aerospace is essential to add values for mobility and to promote cutting-edge technology and scientific explore. Achieving sustainable mobility from the sustainable Aerospace definitely drives the domestic and international economy to improve the world civilization and economic growth.
Sustainable aerospace as an essential enabler to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals stimulates economic and culture developments from the network of aerospace firms and related business and industrials. We will mainly build models of sustainable aerospace-oriented development to prosper the communities and spillover feedback to challenges in aerospace, contribute to sustainability-oriented services in civil aviation, and provide possibly digital aerospace products. Promoting a plan to integrate transit-oriented development of neo-urbanisation with the network of sustainable aviation-oriented development is indispensable for the future.