MATERIAL SAMPLES FOR EMIRATES LUNAR MISSION AND SPACE INDUSTRY
Astro Week | Eco Astronomy Inc | International Lecture Series 2025
MATERIAL SAMPLES FOR EMIRATES LUNAR MISSION AND SPACE INDUSTRY
Guest Speaker : Dr. Laura Borella [Work Package manager at SES for European Space Agency Academy Experiments programme]
Dr. Laura Borella is an accomplished young scientist and one of the few individuals worldwide to have experienced zero gravity. She holds a Master’s degree from the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin) and has contributed her expertise to the German Aerospace Agency (DLR) for over a year. During her tenure at DLR, she worked in the Systems Engineering Department, supporting critical missions such as the Martian Moon eXploration (MMX) and the Reusability Flight Experiment (ReFEx). Dr. Borella led a feasibility study for a gravimeter—now under review for patent qualification—and played an active role in the MMX rover’s mock-up structural testing at the Landing and Mobility Test Facility (LAMA), as well as the Flight Termination System (FTS) for ReFEx. She later earned her Ph.D. at the Microgravity Research Center in Brussels, where she participated in two parabolic flight campaigns. Her doctoral research focused on developing insulating materials using In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) for lunar applications, with the goal of creating thermal protection shields for rovers. Currently, Dr. Borella serves as the workpackage manager at SES for the European Space Agency. Since 2020, she has also been an active member of Eco Astronomy Inc, an international network dedicated to education and public outreach in astronomy and space science.
Eco Astronomy Inc | 2025
