MISSION POSSIBE
SPACE COLLABORATIONS
December 1, 2025
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Professor Melissa de Zwart is the Deputy Director, ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space and Professor, Space Law and Governance, Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources, at the University of Adelaide. Melissa is a globally recognised legal researcher, working in the areas of commercial and military uses of outer space, encompassing both domestic and international space law. She has worked closely with the Australian space industry, including previously serving as Deputy Chair of the Space Industry Association of Australia. She has published widely on all legal and regulatory aspects of the space environment and contributed extensively to reviews and reforms of the regulatory framework. Melissa joined the University of Adelaide in 2011 and was Dean of Law 2017- 2021. She holds a PhD from Monash University, an LLM, BA (Hons) and LLB (Hons) from the University of Melbourne. Melissa is a Member of the International Institute of Space Law and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.
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Jack Rintoul graduated from UNSW Sydney with a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering in 2018, with an honours project focussed on reducing airframe noise using novel wingtip design. Following placements with Optus Satellites and Space then Defence Science and Technology Group, Jack joined Inovor Technologies, as a Spacecraft Systems Engineer and played a leading role in Inovor's first 3 satellite missions, launching in 2023 and 2024. Jack spent time with the Australian Space Agency as part of the Civil Space Monitoring team, developing capability to increase the government's level of awareness of in space activities. In October of this year, Jack commenced as Assistant Director, Space Programs and is the project lead for the Roo-ver mission, Australia's first Lunar Rover program.
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Yuichi Tsuda received his Ph.D. degree in aeronautics and astronautics from University of Tokyo in 2003,and joined Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA) in 2003 as a research associate. He became an associate professor in 2014, and a professor in 2020 of ISAS/JAXA. He was a visiting scholar of Dept. of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan and Dept. of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder in 2008-2009. He was the deputy lead of the IKAROS, the world’s first interplanetary solar sail mission in 2009-2013. He played the leadership role in the Hayabusa2 mission, an asteroid sample-return mission as Project Engineer from 2007 to 2015 and Project Manager from 2015 to 2025, leading to the complete success of the sample return from asteroid Ryugu. He is currently Deputy Director General of ISAS. His research field includes astrodynamics, spacecraft system and solar system exploration.
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Kate Kitagawa specialises in space education and is currently a Professor of Practice in Space Research and Education at La Trobe University. Kate founded a new space education initiative, Aussie Space Rocks, launched in October 2025 upon her receipt of the Australia–Japan Foundation grant. She previously served as Director of the Space Education Office and as Advisor to the Senior Vice President at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
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