Reported by Chunyoung Park (Executive Director of KASSTA)
& Eun-Suk Seo (President of KASSTA)
The Korean-American Aerospace Science and Technology Association (KASSTA) successfully organized monthly webinars in collaboration with TG A-1. Each webinar lasted about an hour and a half with two speakers. The first one was held on Saturday, February 15,2025. Dr. Jaewoo Jung, Branch Chief, NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) gave a presentation entitled “Overview of NASA’s Extensible Traffic Management (xTM) Work,” and Dr., Seungwhan Baek, Senior Researcher, Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) gave a presentation entitled “Cryogenic Heat Transfer Problems for Space Applications”. Dr. Jaewoo Jung’s presentation focused on NASA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management (UTM) system, which was originally developed for low-altitude drone operations. The system has since evolved into the Extensible Traffic Management (xTM) framework, designed to support high-altitude operations in upper-Class E airspace. This advancement enables the safe and scalable integration of diverse air traffic through collaboration between industry and federal agencies.
Dr. Seungwhan Baek discussed the importance of efficient cryogenic liquid management in space transportation. He highlighted the significant challenges posed by microgravity-induced mixing, thermal fluctuations, insulation complexities, and evaporation losses—factors that become especially critical during long-duration missions beyond Earth.
Based on feedback from participants of the February webinar, the dates for March and April were changed from Saturday to Wednesday. On Wednesday, March 19, 2025, Prof. Regina Lee, Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering, York University gave a presentation entitled “AI-based Image Processing Techniques for Space Situational Awareness (SSA)” and Dr. Henry Huh, Computational Scientist, In-Space Propulsion Branch (RQRS), Air Force Research Laboratory gave a presentation entitled “Cone-Jet and Emission Behavior for Electrospray Thrusters via Computational Analysis.”
Prof. Regina Lee presented the advanced AI-based algorithms for real-time detection, identification, and characterization of Resident Space Objects using low-resolution, star-tracker-like on-orbit images, highlighting the challenges and potential of such methods. Dr. Henry Huh presented the study to enhance electrospray thruster modeling by using advanced 2D and 3D simulations in OpenFOAM with a leaky dielectric model and a novel VOF interface scheme to accurately capture high-conductivity electrospray dynamics, improving understanding of cone-jet formation and emission processes critical to thruster performance and longevity.
On Wednesday April 23rd, 2025, Dr. Jae Hwan Kang, Postdoctoral Scholar in Physics, Caltech gave a presentation entitled “SPHEREx: A Near-Infrared Space Observatory Conducting an All-Sky Spectrophotometry Survey”, and Mr. Chunyoung Park, Aerospace Engineer, Pyramid Space Inc. gave a presentation entitled “Driving the Future of the Space Economy with Advanced Propulsion Systems.”
Dr. Jae Hwan Kang presented SPHEREx, a recently launched NASA near-infrared space observatory in partnership with KASI, which would conduct four all-sky surveys over 25 months to explore the universe’s origins, cosmic inflation, and galactic ices while collecting data on over 450 million galaxies and 100 million stars. Mr. Chunyoung Park presented the space industry’s shift toward privatization as driving down access costs and opening new markets, with advanced propulsion technologies playing a crucial role in enabling this transformation and shaping the future space economy. Webinars featured inspiring talks from scientists and engineers from academia, industry, and research labs, providing our community with valuable insights on cutting-edge research and industry trends. The webinar was moderated by Dr. Jeong-Beom Ihn, VP of KASSTA, who is Technical Fellow, Boeing Research & Technology.
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