José Hernández has a long history in the field of engineering and space. He earned his BS in Electrical Engineering at the University of the Pacific and MS in Signals and Systems at University of California, Santa Barbara. From 1984 to 2001, Hernández worked for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. While there, he helped to develop the first full-field digital mammography imaging system which aids in the early detection of breast cancer. In 2001,  Hernández joined the Johnson Space Center and soon became Chief of the Materials and Processes Branch. Hernández was selected as part of the 19th class of astronauts in 2004.  In 2006, José completed Astronaut Candidate Training.  In 2009, he was a mission specialist on the STS-128 mission. José is now the CEO of Tierra Luna Engineering, LLC.

Connecting aerospace startups with industry and investors to facilitate technology development.

I joined the Starburst team after 10+ years as a satellite thermal engineer at OneWeb, SSL, and ITT (now Harris). Experience includes analysis, design, testing, and on-orbit monitoring of RF and electro-optical satellites in LEO and GEO orbits.

Mike Safyan is the Director of Launch & Regulatory Affairs at Planet, a San Francisco-based startup that designs, builds and operates the world’s largest fleet of Earth imaging satellites. Mike was part of the founding team at Planet and previously worked at NASA Ames on the PhoneSat project as a Systems Engineer. Mike received his M.Sc. from the International Space University in Strasbourg, France, and his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from UCLA.

Ms. Ali Guarneros Luna is a senior NASA aerospace engineer supporting the “Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES)” Program and a number of small satellite spaceflight projects within the Engineering Directorate of the NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. Ali received both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from San Jose State University. In October of 2013, Ali was honored by Great Minds in STEM with a HENAAC Luminary Award.

Maryanna Saenko joined DFJ as a senior associate in 2017 with a focus on pursuing investments in groundbreaking technology companies. Prior to DFJ, Maryanna was an investment partner at Airbus Ventures, the early-stage investment group of Airbus, where she led a number of deals focused on early-stage aerospace and deep technology companies. Maryanna also worked with Lux Research’s autonomous systems group where she served as a strategic advisor to Fortune 100 companies

Brandon Mairs studied marketing and business at San Francisco State University. During his studies there, he started his first business; a composites manufacturing company. This business designed, tested and built carbon and other exotic composite parts for high-end sports cars and race cars. After it’s exit in 2010, Brandon began to venture back into marketing, but quickly got bit by the technology hardware bug. This interest led him to start Arubixs, the world’s first flexible smartphone company. A technology project that stemmed from Arubixs R&D, was a satellite, which eventually evolved into a separate company called CloudIX. Brandon is the CEO of CloudIX, which has since pivoted into the building of ultra-low cost launch vehicles for small satellites.