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Saturday, April 30, 2011

Ecuador's First Astronaut


Ronnie Nader

Ronnie Nader 
2nd

1st Ecuadorian Astronaut / Senior Researcher at EXA
Ecuador 
Aviation & Aerospace
Current
  • Director of Space Operations at EXA - Ecuadorian Space Agency
  • EAC-ASA/T Astronaut - Mission Specialist at EXA
Past
  • Founder at PEVM Ecuadorian Micro Gravity Flight Program
  • Founder at EXA - Ecuadorian Space Agency
  • CMAE - AeroSpace Mission Commander at National AeroSpace Affairs Office - DDA
Education
  • Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center
  • Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil
Recommendations
4 people have recommended Ronnie
Connections
120 connections
Websites
Twitter
Public Profile

Summary

June 8, 2007 Became the first Ecuadorian astronaut in history, by completing the ASA/T program at Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia and acquired title ASA/T (Advanced Suborbital Astronaut/Trained), Mission Specialist.

August 29, 2007: Designed and published the first Civilian Space Research Program in Ecuador, also created the EXA - the Ecuadorian Civilian Space Agency, the first space agency in Ecuadorian history.

January, 2008: Designed Project DAEDALUS, the first latin american micro gravity plane, also designed the gravimetric multivectorial computing platform needed for the project, the PMCG-MK1. On May 6, 2008: Successfully flied as mission commander the EXA/FAE-02 research mission on a T39 Sabreliner, testing the PMCG-MK2 and achieving for the country the first latin american micro gravity plane, Ecuador became then the 3rd country in the world to achieve parabolic flight technology by its own means, after the US and Russia.

June 19, 2008: Mission director for Project POSEIDON achieved a micro gravity World Record for Ecuador granted by Guinness and the WR Academy

October 22, 2008: Designed and built the EXA's HIPERION Reactive Alert Network, which protects more than 4 million Ecuadorians by providing them with real time information about high UV radiation levels reaching Ecuadorian territory

September 8, 2009: Unveiled Project HERMES - The first Internet-to-Orbit gateway, was invited by the United Nations OOSA office to the Austrian Academy of Sciences to demonstrate the system and teach other scientists from around the world to use it.

November 19, 2009: Started the program "A SATELLITE IN CLASSROOM", based on the HERMES platform to provide elementary schools with the capability of connecting in real time to weather satellites and download live images using only a computer with an internet connection.

He was the leader of the team who built the 1st Ecuadorian satellite the NEE-01 PEGASUS and its chief designer

Specialties

Astronautics
Cybernetics
Propulsion
Space Communications
Spacecraft design and engineering

Experience

Aviation & Aerospace industry
July 2007 – Present (3 years 10 months)
Head of the Ecuadorian Astronaut Corps
Director of Space Operations
at EXA - Ecuadorian Space Agency

Planned and managed 6 Aerospace research missions
Ronnie has 2 recommendations (2 partners) including:
  • 3rd Cesar N., Program Manager - Military Classification Testing Control, Headquarters Marine Corps
  • 2nd John Moltzan, Director of Business Development, Space Adventures Ltd.
Aviation & Aerospace industry
June 2007 – Present (3 years 11 months)
Astronaut, mission specialist performs scientific experiments in space and aerospace missions
Research industry
April 2008 – February 2010 (1 year 11 months)
Founded the joint EXA/FAE Ecuadorian Micro Gravity Research and Flight Program, developed the whole program and the mission plan scaffold for the program
Ronnie has 1 recommendation (1 partner) including:
Research industry
August 2007 – February 2010 (2 years 7 months)
Founded the first Space Agency in the history of Ecuador
Military industry
January 2008 – January 2010 (2 years 1 month)
Aerospace Mission Commander, maiden mission EXA/FAE-01 successfully flown on April 10, 2008

7 Aerospace missions flown up to Sep 2008 on board the FG1 Condor

Languages

  • English

     (Full professional proficiency)
  • Español

     (Native or bilingual proficiency)
  • Русский

     (Professional working proficiency)
  • Portuges

     (Limited working proficiency)

Skills

Publications

  • PROJECT DAEDALUS: THE FIRST LATIN-AMERICAN MICROGRAVITY RESEARCH PLANE

    • 60th International Astronautical Congress 2009
    • October 2, 2009
    Authors: Ronnie Nader
    Up until May 2008 there was no way to access a microgravity research facility in the Latin-American region that can offer more than 4 or at most 5 seconds of high quality microgravity conditions, Project DAEDALUS was a joint project of the Ecuadorian Civilian Space Agency (EXA) and the Ecuadorian Air Force (FAE) to develop the 1st Latin-American microgravity plane. So far 7 missions have been... more
  • NEAR REAL TIME AUTOMATED ONLINE UV MONITORING AND ALERT NETWORK IN ECUADORIAN TERRITORY (HIPERION RAN)

    • 60th International Astronautical Congress 2009
    • September 30, 2009
    Authors: Ronnie Nader
    The high UV indexes detected in equatorial latitudes lately calls for an automated, near real time, online system that constantly monitors UVB and UVA radiation and can warn the population of the potential health risk accordingly to the WHO UV index standard. Until October 2008 no such system existed in Ecuadorian territory where high UV indexes can be found in the Andean region as well as in the... more
  • HERMES Delta: The use of the DELTA operation mode of the HERMES-A/MINOTAUR Internet-to-Orbit gateway to turn a laptop in to a virtual EO ground station

    • 61th International Astronautical Congress 2010
    • September 28, 2010
    Authors: Ronnie Nader
    The Delta operation mode of the HERMES-A/MINOTAUR Internet-to-Orbit gateway built and operated by the Ecuadorian Civilian Space Agency (EXA) as part of the Ecuadorian Civilian Space Program (ECSP)
    allows the real time routing of Earth observation satellite signals over the internet, this capability allows to turn a laptop computer with an internet connection in a full virtual ground station... more
  • PROJECT AGORA: SIMULTANEOUSLY DOWNLOADING A SATELLITE SIGNAL AROUND THE WORLD

    • 61st International Astronautical Congress,
    • October 1, 2010
    Authors: Ronnie NaderAndrew K., Ghulam Jaffer
    The Ecuadorian Space Agency has recently provided the civilian world with an Internet-to-orbit gateway (HERMES-A / MINOTAUR Space Flight Control Center) available for public and educational use. This gateway connects Internet users around the world with the capability to remotely operate and listen to a satellite ground station, providing a broad platform for educators and amateurs to connect to... more
  • THE ECUADORIAN CIVILIAN SPACE PROGRAM: NEAR-FUTURE MANNED RESEARCH MISSIONS IN A LOW COST, ENTRY LEVEL SPACE PROGRAM.

    • 61th International Astronautical Congress 2010
    • October 2, 2010
    Authors: Ronnie Nader
    The Ecuadorian Civilian Space Program was presented on August 29 2007, to date; big steps have been taken by this Civilian program endorsed by the Ecuadorian Air Force and the Ecuadorian Civilian Space Agency. We will discuss the creation of microgravity facilities for training and research from scratch and the joint microgravity research missions made with the Ecuadorian Air Force, the... more
  • A SATELLITE IN THE CLASSROOM: 2ND GRADE STUDENTS WORK WITH REAL-TIME SATELLITE IMAGES

    • 61st International Astronautical Congress
    • October 1, 2010
    Authors: Ronnie Nader, Margot Solberg
    “A Satellite in the Classroom” pilot program began in September 2009, with second grade students at Academia Cotopaxi’s International American school in Quito, Ecuador. Through real-time satellite images students are provided hands-on learning experiences which strengthen their understanding of space science and technology. The students are able to track real-time satellites on the globe, download... more
  • USING A VIRTUAL GROUND STATION AS A TOOL FOR SUPPORTING HIGHER EDUCATION

    • 61st International Astronautical Congress,
    • October 1, 2010
    Authors: Ronnie Nader, Ghulam Jaffer, Andrew K.
    Students in higher education, scientific and technological research want to communicate with the ISS, downloadlive satellite images, and receive telemetry, housekeeping and science data from nanosatellites and larger spacecrafts.
    To meet this need, the Ecuadorian Space Agency (EXA) has recently provided the civilian world with an internet to orbit gateway (HERMES-A / MINOTAUR Space Flight Control... more
  • La Red de Alerta Reactiva HIPERION: Sistema de costo efectivo para monitoreo de radiación UV basado en tierra y el espacio

    • International Telecommunications Union – 3rd Symposium on ICTs and Climate Change 2009
    • July 9, 2009
    Authors: Ronnie Nader
  • HERMES-A/MINOTAUR: The first Internet-to-Orbit Gateway

    • UN-OOSA Small Satellites for Development Symposium - Austrian Academy of Sciences -2009
    • September 8, 2009
    -HERMES is the first ground station in the world to be publicly available, connecting the Internet to the orbit in real time with voice and data capabilities.
    -The main objective of HERMES is to give academic and education community access to spacecrafts in orbit without them having to setup their own ground stations, lowering the cost of access to space for education and research and opening... more
  • Project HERMES: The building of an internet enabled gorund station

    • California Polytechnic Institute - 2009 CDW 23rd Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites
    • August 4, 2009
    Authors: Ronnie Nader
    HERMES is an Space flight Control Center or SFCC.
    •Also, HERMES is a robotic SFCC.
    •HERMES is capable of detection, tracking, command, control and receive/transmit data and voice from spacecrafts within its range
    •But most importantly: HERMES can be controlled and operated completely over the Internet, sending spacecraft signals over the network to authorized entities, that otherwise will need... more

Education

Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil

MSEnglishCiberneticsComputer ScienceBA

1989 – 1994
Director of campus computer labs in 1995

Recommendations For Ronnie

Director of Space Operations

EXA - Ecuadorian Space Agency

“Ronnie Nader represents the next wave of dynamic visionaries on space technology satellite engineering. His pioneering work as the 1st Ecuadorian Cosmonaut will put Ecuador on the map and in the running for the space race of the 21st century. He represents the pulse of the Millennium, the Return of the exciting era of space travel and a hero to young population of Ecuadorian children who can now believe that their dream can also come true. Ronnie Nader's dedicated efforts to his country's space program will mark a unique point in history and will become the turning point of Ecuador in the technology race.” November 16, 2010
3rd Cesar N.Program Manager - Military Classification Testing Control, Headquarters Marine Corps
was with another company when working with Ronnie at EXA - Ecuadorian Space Agency
“I have known Ronnie Nader since 2003, when he first expressed an interest in participating in astronaut training courses with my former employer, Space Adventures Ltd. Since then, Mr. Nader has become a pioneer and advocate for space exploration in his native Ecuador, where he has been instrumental in establishing and leading the national space agency EXA, has implemented space science educational programs at school and university level, and has been recognized as the first Ecuadorian astronaut candidate. While undergoing a comprehensive suborbital space flight training program at Star City, Russia, in 2007, Ronnie impressed his instructors and trainers by demonstrating superior physical and mental readiness for space travel. I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Ronnie on numerous occasions and can attest to his unwaivering passion and determination to realize not only his own ambitions of space travel, but to educate and inspire his fellow countrymen.” April 4, 2008
2nd John MoltzanDirector of Business Development, Space Adventures Ltd.
was a consultant or contractor to Ronnie at EXA - Ecuadorian Space Agency

Founder

PEVM Ecuadorian Micro Gravity Flight Program

“Ronnie is a man of vision and passion, and his efforts to bring space development efforts to his nation are fantastic! We look forward to working with Ronnie for many years. His visions will no doubt be realized under his leadership.

Eric Anderson” July 20, 2008
2nd Eric AndersonPresident & CEO, Space Adventures
was a consultant or contractor to Ronnie at PEVM Ecuadorian Micro Gravity Flight Program

Student

Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil

“Ronnie was always deep in research and analysis. Always top on his classes. Way to go Ronnie - In my name, Ecuador is proud of you!” June 7, 2009
3rd Mercedes A., EDI programmer, Trailer Bridge,
studied with Ronnie at Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil

Additional Information


Websites:
Twitter:
Interests:
Groups and Associations:
Honors and Awards:
First Ecuadorian Astronaut, 2007 One of 9 most successful men in Ecuador, HOGAR mag., July 2007 Medal 'Example for Youth' of Ecuadorian Gov., October 2007 Man of year, Ecuador, 2007 One of 4 most successful Ecuadorians, December 2007 Global Citizenship Award 2010 - March 2010 Hall of Fame of Lebanese descendants - November 2010

Personal Information


Birthday:
July 10

Contact Settings

Interested In

  • career opportunities
  • consulting offers
  • new ventures
  • job inquiries
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