Prior to founding Mission Control, Ewan worked as a systems designer and project manager in the Canadian space industry.  He has been a lead designer on three rover prototypes for the Canadian Space Agency, and was a systems and electrical designer and operations engineer on the NASA Space Shuttle Program. Ewan was a mission controller for nine shuttle missions and conducted numerous testing and verification activities at NASA.  Ewan has degrees in Electrical Engineering and Economics from Queen’s University and a Master’s degree in Technology Innovation Management from Carleton University.

As Chief Technology Officer at Mission Control, Michele leads technology development contracts and R&D initiatives. Michele has conducted research and led multiple projects in the field of planetary rover mobility, including implementing terramechanics models for JAXA rovers, developing intelligent algorithms and advanced state estimation techniques for a legged robot for DRDC, and creating design contributions to CSA rover prototypes. Dr. Faragalli is an adjunct professor in the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at Carleton University and is currently an invited member of the Queen’s University Mining and Mechanical Engineering Department Industry-Academic Advisory Committee.

Dr. Melissa Battler is Chief Science Officer for Mission Control, and is an Adjunct Research Professor in Western University’s Department of Earth Sciences. As a planetary geologist, she has been a field-team member for eight Moon/Mars mission simulations. She has also been a mission control team member for ten human and robotic simulations with the Canadian Space Agency, NASA, Western University, the University of Hawaii, and the International Space University. Melissa attained her Ph.D. (Planetary Geology) from Western University. She holds both a diploma in University Teaching and a M.Sc. (Geology) from the University of New Brunswick, and an Honours B.Sc. (Earth Sciences) from the University of Waterloo.

At Mission Control, Michaela focuses on developing international research collaborations and supporting education and outreach activities. Michaela is the resident expert in astrobiology. She conducted research at University College London (UK), California Institute of Technology (USA), Chiba University (Japan) and holds a PhD from the University of Bristol (UK). Amongst other experiences, she worked at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, University of London Observatory and was an analogue astronaut at the Mars Desert Research Station (USA) in 2014 & 2017. She is currently the Chair of the Slovak Organisation for Space Activities (SOSA) and visiting professor at the Slovak Technical University (Slovakia).

As Senior Software Architect, Matt leads Mission Control’s R&D efforts as a technical feasibility expert and provides guidance on systems integration, characterization and testing. Matt has years of space industry experience in vision processing, motion control and rover autonomy and was the lead developer for user interfaces on three rover programs with the CSA. He previously worked with DRDC to develop satellite acquisition planning software and with the Canadian Forces on terrain trafficability assessment and visualization. Mr. Cole received a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Queen’s and an M.Sc. from UBC where he developed molecular actuators for bio-medical and industrial applications.

Anne focuses on business development activities for Mission Control, as well as leading business operations and communications for the company. Anne is a management consultant with experience in market analysis, operations and change management in organizations. She has worked with clients in six countries implementing best business practices in multiple environments. Before this, she graduated with an HBA from the Ivey School of Business at Western University. In her spare time, Anne likes to hike, read, travel, and stargaze.

As a Robotics Engineer at Mission Control, Kaizad develops advanced robotics technologies for terrain perception/interaction and path planning. Additionally, he provides engineering support to Mission Control Academy, the company’s education arm, and graphics support in general. Kaizad obtained his B.Sc. and M.A.Sc. degrees in aerospace engineering from Purdue University and the University of Toronto respectively. He has been involved with SEDS (Students for the Exploration and Development of Space) for over seven years, re-founding SEDS-Canada and serving as both Chair and Chief of Staff, and previously Vice-Chair at SEDS-USA. SEDS is an international student-run space advocacy movement.

Adam acts as the manager of special projects at Mission Control, and works mainly on development and implementation of project management structures and programmatic review. Adam has extensive experience at a director level, responsible for managing and developing a portfolio of technologies in for flight and R&D programs in Canada’s space industry. In the past, Adam has managed several CSA and ESA concept studies, and served as a project manager on “Shuttle Return to Flight” mission (STS-26), leading a team of analysts at NASA Johnson Space Center mission control for maiden flight of LCS for on-orbit damage detection. Adam graduated with a B.Sc.(Hons) in Physics from the University of Waterloo.

As a Robotics Engineer at Mission Control, Mark focuses on development of robot control software and provides support on data collection campaigns. Mark obtained his Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechatronics Engineering from the University of Waterloo. Mark has previous work experience doing robotics research at the Singapore University of Technology and Design. In his free time, Mark’s interests include aerial robot design, robot simulation and modeling, and human-machine interface.

Evan is a robotics engineer at Mission Control, working to design and implement real-time machine vision algorithms for the analysis of 3D stereo data. Evan graduated with a Bachelor in Aerospace Engineering (Space Systems Design) at Carleton University. Evan has spent time leading a team on Carleton’s Satellite Design Project, designing and implementing the guidance and navigation solution for the CuSAT-1 3U cubesat.

Veronica studies Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo and is a Fall 2018 co-op student at Mission Control. Her role includes developing and implementing machine learning algorithms for planetary exploration applications, as well as helping with Mission Control Academy. Veronica has previous work experience at the Canadian Space Agency, analyzing exoplanet and asteroid satellite data. When she doesn’t have her nose buried in code, Veronica enjoys spending time outdoors while hiking, camping and gazing at the stars.

Michael studies Aerospace Electronics and Systems at Carleton University and is a co-op student at Mission Control. Along with his studies, Michael currently acts as Systems Team Lead for the Carleton Off-Planet Specialized Mining Team, designing scientific payloads and apparatus for robotic drills operating in reduced gravity environments. This project was chosen by the National Research Council and Canadian Space Agency to test on-board a Falcon-20 aircraft in the CAN-RGX competition. Michael also leads the Payload Systems team on Carleton’s Blackbird UAV project, an agricultural aerial robot that won awards for its streamlined post-processing of flight data and LaTeX report creation.

In his role at Mission Control, Simon develops programs to deliver space ready components from chip to product, commercializing and developing technology related to space applications. Simon has worked as a Business Unit director for Versawave Technologies, directing R&D activities into commercialization while managing engineering, sales, operations and marketing. Simon worked as an independent consultant in the same capacity after his time as Director of Operations, Manufacturing, IT & Facilities at OneChip Photonics Inc., and at Bookham Inc. (formerly Nortel). Simon holds a M.Sc. Aerospace Engineering from Clifton College and previously served on the British Army Air Corps and as a UN Peacekeeper.

Ryan is Mission Control’s Mission & Systems Specialist. A professional engineer with over 10 years of experience, Ryan has worked on design, development, procurement and operations for projects including PCW, Anik F2, Anik G1, Nimiq 6, Urthecast’s OptiSAR constellation, and Telesat’s LEO Vantage constellation, to name a few. Ryan is an active member of local space and engineering communities, founding the Ottawa chapter of the Canadian Space Society (CSS) and becoming Vice President of CSS in 2017. He also founded QShift Inc. a federal corporation providing space and satcom systems consulting services. Ryan has an M.A.Sc in Aerospace Engineering from Carleton University, and undergraduate degrees in Computing Technology and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ottawa.

Rony is the chief scientist behind Mission Control’s component programs. Rony holds a Ph.D. from Carleton University and is a registered professional engineer in Ontario. Dr. Amaya has held senior RF technical positions at Skyworks solutions, Communications Research Centre and been involved in the development of integrated RF circuit and system solutions from S-band to E-band and addressing packaging integration. In 2013, Rony co-founded Teslonix Inc., a company that focuses on EM-powering the IoT via radiowaves. He is currently an Associate Professor with the Department of Electronics at Carleton University, and has authored or co-authored more than 60 technical papers in journals and conference proceedings.

Dave works for Mission Control as a Director of Satellite Applications. Since graduating with a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Carleton University, Dave is a satellite communications professional with 35 years experience developing satellite-based products and services, including integration with other communications systems, such as cellular, for complete solutions. Dave works as an M2M Specialist to assist organizations in the planning and development of satellite machine- to-machine applications for tracking and telematics. Previously, Dave was a senior executive with the Canada-based SkyWave and GlobalWave companies, providing satellite packet data products and services to the global transportation market. He has experience licensing GlobalWave franchises to regional operators around the world.