ABOUT ME
Manager and founder, Space Systems Design and Test Laboratory,
Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Istanbul, Türkiye
Prof.Dr. Aslan received BSC and MSc degrees from the Istanbul Technical University Department of Aeronautical Engineering. Then, he completed the Diploma Course of the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (Belgium) with a scholarship in 1986. He received his Ph.D. from the same institute (aeronautics and aerospace department) together with Universite Libre de Bruxelles in 1991. He worked as an adjunct professor in Old Dominion University, USA, from mid-2001 to mid-2002. Prof. Dr. A. Rüstem Aslan served as the head of the Department of Astronautical Engineering at Istanbul Technical University (ITU) from 2004 to end of 2013. He is currently the Manager (founder) of Space Systems Design and Test Lab. where many nanosatellites developed and tested since 2007, along with other duties.
Prof. Aslan is a dynamic and innovative leader in the space industry with nearly 23 years of experience with the end-to-end execution of space systems for numerous government and commercial programs. Prof. Aslan is the father of CubeSat in Turkey. He started CubeSat development in 2005 and so far, he has managed development and successful launch of 7 CubeSats in to orbit, including the first Turkish CubeSat ITUpSAT1 and first Turkish commercial CubeSat Connecta T1.1, and 2 CubeSats for the QB50 project under FP7-SPACE (with a total budget of over €12M, EU contribution of € 7 998 703,85). He has been actively involved (as PI for most of them) in many national/international space projects with budget shares of about €10M.
Prof.Dr. Alim Rustem ASLAN has been actively involved on the education on space technologies and development of low-cost, small satellite missions and enabling technologies with nearly 250 technical papers, invited talks, keynotes, and presentations/seminars/trainings/projects on the subject. Prof. Aslan has been extensively involved in the small satellite community through his active contributions as the Manager (founder) of Space Systems Design and Test Lab. where many nanosatellites developed and tested since 2007, the President of UZTED (Turkish Space Technology and Education Association) and steering committee member of UNISEC-GLOBAL and Member of International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).
Prof. Aslan, as a part of formal program, is teaching the undergraduate course “Spacecraft System Design” which is the Astronautical Engineering Departments’ last year capstone spacecraft design course. In this course, students learn to conceptually design a spacecraft with specified requirements and realistic constraints. He designed the course to be in line with the AIAA and ABET requirements, leading to full ABET accreditation of the department. He also delivers similar courses both in undergraduate and graduate level in the National Defence University.
Prof. Aslan has motivated students to form CanSat and Model Rocketry teams. The teams have participated in numerous international competitions with successful results including first place prizes. Prof. Aslan, regularly delivers hands on training courses on CanSat and CubeSats worldwide, and gives seminars and speeches on space technologies in different institutions such as elementary and high schools, clubs, universities, retirement houses, meetings, TV programs, newspapers etc. to increase ‘space awareness’ of the general public.