Helene Sorgner

Helene studies the governance, politics and social organisation of large-scale science and research collaboration. In her PhD thesis, she analysed how large research collaborations in high-energy physics ensure long-term functionality amidst tensions between individual and collective needs. At FutureSpace, Helene interrogates what the European Launcher Challenge and the concurrent development of European spaceports mean for European (dis-)integration. She also explores the material, epistemic, and organisational conditions of collaborative knowledge production for future space missions.

Philipp Kürten

Philipp explores how European space futures are imagined, negotiated, and materialised. At FutureSpace, he investigates “futuring practices” and their temporal dimensions within the European space sector, analysing how foresight, governance, policy, and engineering cultures shape short- and long-term visions—and how these timelines often fall out of sync. His research brings together STS and Futures Studies to examine how competing imaginaries of Europe’s role in space are produced, stabilised, and contested in organisational and technical contexts. He organises strategic foresight workshops and collaborates with industry and policy actors to explore how future-oriented practices shape decision-making in Europe’s space sector today.

Hannah Schmalstich

Hannah investigates the discursive performance of infrastructures in relation to geopolitics, with a focus on satellites and satellite constellations (particularly IRIS2). At FutureSpace, she examines tensions between competition, nationalisation, sovereignty, and militarisation in the evolving space industry, including broader initiatives such as the European Launcher Challenge. Her work draws on an interdisciplinary background in physics and philosophy to explore how outer space is studied across political science, international relations, artistic research, and law.

Pepijn Deroo

Pepijn studies the material culture and social organisation of engineering practices, drawing on a background in Aerospace Engineering. At FutureSpace, he investigates how political and technical priorities are negotiated at engineering sites in the Ariane project, and how European space transportation infrastructures are imagined and extended through the development of the Argonaut lunar lander. His research connects engineering practice with STS perspectives on modelling, design, and the sociotechnical shaping of space technologies, which he presents at international space industry and STS conferences.