​Beyond Earth: The New Space Economy

​Space is entering a new era powered by breakthroughs in AI, frontier technology, and commercial innovation.

​Join MIT researchers, venture investors, founders, and global aerospace leaders for a conversation on the technologies, partnerships, and investment opportunities shaping the future of the space economy - from next-generation propulsion and satellite infrastructure to autonomous systems, advanced manufacturing, and dual-use technologies.

​Designed for founders, investors, researchers, engineers, and anyone excited about the future of space.

​About the Panelists:

​Paulo Lozano is the M. Aleman-Velasco Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Director of the MIT Space Propulsion Laboratory. His research focuses on advanced space propulsion, plasma physics, small satellites, and nanotechnology, with particular emphasis on highly efficient, compact ion thrusters for next-generation spacecraft.

​Beyond his academic research, Professor Lozano is deeply engaged in translating frontier space technologies from the laboratory toward real-world applications, providing a unique perspective on how university research, startups, industry, investors, and government can work together to shape the next generation of the commercial space economy. His work has resulted in more than 10 patents and has been supported by NASA, DARPA, the U.S. Air Force, NSF, and other government and private organizations.

​Professor Lozano has received the AIAA Technical Achievement Award for his contributions to ion electrospray propulsion and the U.S. Air Force Young Investigator Program Award. He has also served on National Academies committees examining CubeSats, NASA technology roadmaps, and emerging space technologies.

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​Jinhee Tak is Executive Vice President and Head of Strategy Planning at Hanwha Aerospace & Systems, where he helps shape the company’s global growth and innovation strategy across aerospace, defense, space, and emerging technologies.

​Tak brings a distinctive combination of engineering, strategy, and business leadership. He holds an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to Hanwha, he spent a significant part of his career at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), advising companies on strategy and growth.

​At Hanwha, his work spans strategic planning, new businesses, technology investment, and global partnerships at the intersection of aerospace, defense, space, and AI. His perspective bridges deep technical expertise, corporate strategy, and large-scale commercialization—particularly as established aerospace companies increasingly collaborate with startups and venture-backed innovators.

​Shishir Bankapur is the Founder and CEO of Helogen Corporation, a space infrastructure company building factories in space for breakthrough materials and advanced manufacturing that can't be made on Earth. He began his career in pharmaceutical manufacturing and previously founded an early AI machine comprehension company in 2016 and led engineering at a software marketplace company through a $1B-plus acquisition.

Shishir started Helogen after recognizing that space could become a fundamentally new manufacturing environment - one with physical conditions that do not exist on Earth and the potential to create entirely new classes of products. He saw that shift as a category-defining industrial opportunity and signed Helogen’s first customers before the company formally existed. Under Shishir’s leadership, Helogen builds autonomous orbital factories that manufacture high-value biomaterials in space and return them for use on Earth. Its HEL-IOS™ platform integrates the systems required to run production in orbit with minimal crew involvement, turning space from a place for experimentation into a new industrial manufacturing environment. Helogen has established collaborations with organizations including NASA, Starlab Space, LambdaVision, AgResearch, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Today, his work is focused on the emerging intersection of space, biotechnology, and manufacturing, with a vision of making low Earth orbit an accessible and repeatable environment for scientific discovery and commercial production.

​Jonathan Bronson is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of J2 Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in early-stage companies at the intersection of deep technology, national security, and commercial markets.

​Prior to founding J2 Ventures, Bronson was an investor in the Private Equity group of D.E. Shaw, where he deployed over $750 million of equity and debt building solar and wind power throughout the United States. Earlier in his career, Bronson was a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group and COO Backpack Health (acquired) where he led operations from company formation through two rounds of financing. He holds a PhD in Applied Math from Columbia and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania..

​At J2 Ventures, he brings together experience across venture capital, startups, government, and national security, providing a unique perspective on how commercial innovation and public-sector partnerships can accelerate the next generation of aerospace, defense, and dual-use technologies.

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​About the moderator

​Rhie Lim is a former CNBC reporter turned entrepreneur and tech investor. As co-founder of LifeCanvas Technologies, Inc., a company revolutionizing 3D bioimaging, Rhie helped grow the startup from inception into a sustainable, profitable business. She led a cross-functional team across science, AI/ML, finance, sales, marketing, and HR, and secured over $17M in funding from institutional investors and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

​Rhie also spearheaded MIT’s first Global Entrepreneurship Bootcamp in Seoul, South Korea, which fostered a network of 1,200 alumni and led to the launch of 100+ ventures that have collectively raised over $70M. Prior to her work in startups, she was a financial news reporter for CNBC Asia, where she covered South Korea’s leading companies, including Samsung, and conducted exclusive interviews with global opinion leaders such as Warren Buffett.

​Passionate about bridging market gaps and supporting visionary founders, Rhie is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs build impactful, scalable solutions. She holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and hosts Kendall On Air, a YouTube series spotlighting innovators, technologies, and founders from the world’s most innovative square mile - Kendall Square.