Priyanka Das Rajkakati Aerospace Engineer (Ph.D.) | Artist

[About]

CV



Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering | 2021
ISAE-Supaéro (Toulouse, France)
(CIFRE industrial contract with Safran)

Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering | 2017
ISAE-Supaéro (Toulouse, France)
Specialization: Autonomous Systems, Decision Science, Robotics

Master of Science, Ingénieur polytechnicien (X2013) | 2016
Ecole Polytechnique (Paris region, France)
Specialization: Data Science, AI

Bachelor of Science in Physics (Honors) | 2013
St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi (Delhi, India)


Awards & Recognitions


2023 | France Alumni Ambassadors [cohort 2023-25], Embassy of France in India
2022 | The Next 100 Innovators under 45, India Today
2022 | Featured Portrait for X2013 Batch - 50 Years of Women at Polytechnique, École Polytechnique
2021 | Karman Fellow - Artist-Scientist, The Karman Project
2021 | Forbes India 30 under 30 - Science & Innovation, Forbes India
2010 | School Best All-Rounder Award, Sri Aurobindo Education Society

Grants


2021 | Artist residency at European Geosciences Union 2021 (vEGU21)
2020 | Artist residency at European Geosciences Union 2020 (vEGU20)
2019 | European Space Agency (ESA) ISEB sponsorship for IAC2019
2018 | CIFRE PhD: Association Nationale Recherche Technologie (ANRT) and Safran
2016 | French Aerospace Industries Association (GIFAS) sponsorship for ISAE-Supaéro
2016 | "Brazil, France, Engineers, Technology" (BRAFITEC) sponsorship
2013 | Bourse de la Fondation de l'X (Polytechnique Foundation)
2012 | Summer Project at Inter-University Accelerator Centre, Delhi, India
2011 | INSPIRE Merit Scholarship, Govt. of India
2011 | Summer Course in Experimental Physics, HBSCE, TIFR, India

Selections and Competitions


2021 | V-Art Digital Spaceship Exhibition
2020 | Featured: One Million Women in STEM
2019 | Expert, IAF Committee for the Cultural Utilisation of Space (ITACCUS)
2019 | #TeamHB5 Homeward Bound Projects (Antarctica)
2019 | Artist for the Moon Gallery Project
2018 | Runner-up (Startup hackathon), Les Doctoriales 2018, Albi, PhD students' meet
2015 | Selection and participation, Caltech Space Challenge (NASA JPL) 2015
2014 | Winner (Paris region) #ActInSpace Hackathon 2014
2014 | Gold medal (Badminton), Tournoi Sportif des Grandes Écoles de la Défense (TSGED 2014)
2013 | All-India Rank 88 (Physics), Joint Admission tests for Masters in IITs /IISc
2013 | All India Rank 80 (Physics), Joint Entrance Screening Test
2010 | Rank 280, SOF International Maths Olympiad
2010 | Selection, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India



Project Manger, WHYLD | Sept 2023 - Current
VorteX-io (France)

Founder | 2023 - Current
Atelier Arth (France)

Co-Founder & Advisor | 2021-23 (2 years)
The Exploration Company (Germany & France)

R&D Consultant Engineer (GNSS) | 2021 (4 months)
Capgemini (France)

CIFRE Ph.D. Student & Systems Engineer (GNSS) | 2018-2021 (3 years)
Safran and ISAE-Supaéro (France)

Research Intern | 2017 (6 months)
Safran (Paris region, France)

Research Intern (Real-Time Indoor Localisation) | 2016 (5 months)
Robotics Lab, Escola Politécnica, University of Sao Paulo (Sao Paulo, Brazil)

Software Intern (Lab-test Automation), Startup R&D | 2015 (2 months)
CorWave (Paris, France)


Notable Academic Projects


Rivers from our Veins | 2022 - Present (1 year)
In collaboration with North East Space Applications Centre (NESAC)

Analog astronaut, EMMIHS-III Lunar Simulation Mission | January 2020 (3 weeks)
Hawai'i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) (Hawai'i, USA)

Participant (Hackathon), Doctoriales | 2018 (1 week)
Ecole des Mines d'Albi (Albi, France)

Engineering Research Project (Project Boomerang) | 2016 (3 months)
ISAE-Supaéro (Toulouse, France)

Summer Intern (Digital Holography) | 2015 (2 weeks)
Institut d'Optique Graduate School "SupOptique" (Paris region, France)

Participant (Space Mission Planning), Caltech Space Challenge | 2015 (1 week)
CalTech + JPL NASA (Pasadena, USA)

Engineering Research Project (X-Cubesat) | 2014 (1 year)
Project QB50, Ecole Polytechnique (Paris region, France)

Participant (Space Hackathon), #Actinspace | 2014 (2 days)
Synchrotron Soleil (Saclay, France)

Summer Intern (Editing, Auditing and Reporting) | 2013 (1 month)
The Times of India (Delhi, India)

Summer Intern (Digital Holography) | 2012 (2 months)
Photonics Lab, Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi, India)

Trainee, Summer Course on Experimental Physics | 2011 (1 month)
Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), TIFR (Mumbai, India)

Summer Intern (Beam Optics) | 2011 (1 month)
Inter-University Accelerator Centre (Delhi, India)


Leadership and Responsibility


Member #TeamHB5: Leadership Program for Women in STEMM | Since 2019 (4 years)
Homeward Bound Projects

Member PR&Comm, Curator "SGAC Art Gallery" | Since 2020 (3 years)
Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC)

Delegate & lead for Human Space Exploration sub-working group | January 2021 (9 days)
SGAC Asia-Pacific Space Generation Online Workshop (APSGOW)

Event organizer, SG[France]2020 | 2019-20 (1 year)
SGAC Our Giant Leap initiative

Commander-in-training, EMMIHS-III Lunar Analogue Astronaut Mission | January 2020 (3 weeks)
Hawai'i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) (Hawai'i, USA)

Founder, X-Inde (Polytechnique India Group) | Since 2019 (4 years)
Polytechnique Alumni Association

Ambassador, L'Oréal "For Girls in Science" Program | 2017-2019 (2 years)
L'Oréal Foundation For Women in Science





Select Art Projects


Artist-in-residence, vEGU21 | 2021
European Geosciences Union

Artist-exhibitor, "Digital Art Spaceship" | 2021
V-Art Digital Gallery

Artist-in-residence, EGU20 | 2020
European Geosciences Union

SGAC Art Gallery Curation (through the PR&Comm team) | Since 2022 (1 year)
Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC)

Artist and exhibitor, Moon Gallery | Since 2019 (4 years)
Moon Gallery (ESA/ILEWG)

Member, IAF Technical Committee for the Cultural Utilisation of Space (ITACCUS) | Since 2019 (4 years)
International Astronautical Federation (IAF)
Rapporteur for the IAF session "Space Culture – Public Engagement in Space through Culture"

Freelance designer
Check Artwork section.



PhD Research

Conferences

  1. P. Das, J. Vilà-Valls, E. Chaumette, F. Vincent, L. Davain, and S. Bonnabel. “On the Accuracy Limit of Time-delay Estimation with a Band-limited Signal”. IEEE Intl. Conf. on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP). Brighton, UK, May 2019
  2. P. Das, B. Priot, J. Vilà-Valls, and E. Chaumette. “A Signal Processing Approach to GNSS Precise Positioning for Lunar Exploration”. 70th International Astronautical Congress (IAC’19). Washington DC, USA, Nov. 2019 – Awarded the ESA ISEB grant.

Journal papers

  1. P. Das, L. Ortega, J. Vilà-Valls, F. Vincent, E. Chaumette, and L. Davain. “Performance Limits of GNSS Code-Based Precise Positioning: GPS, Galileo & Meta-Signals”. Sensors (2020) Vol. 20, Issue 8
  2. P. Das, J. Vilà-Valls, F. Vincent, L. Davain, and E. Chaumette. “A New Compact Delay, Doppler Stretch and Phase Estimation CRB with a Band-Limited Signal for Generic Remote Sensing Applications”. Remote Sensing (2020) Vol. 12, Issue 18

EMMIHS-III Mission

Conferences

  1. P. Rajkakati, B. H. Foing, M. V. Heemskerk. “Experience and lessons learnt as crew-commander-in-training for EMMIHS-III lunar-analogue simulation”. 72nd International Astronautical Congress, Dubai (October 2021)
  2. P. Rajkakati, B. H. Foing, M. Musilova, M. V. Heemskerk. “EMMIHS-III: EuroMoonMars, International MoonBase Alliance and HI-SEAS simulation campaign outcomes”. Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX-2021), St Petersburg (June 2021)
  3. P. Rajkakati, M. V. Heemskerk, K. Edison, M. Musilova, L. Brasileiro, R. S. Heemskerk, B. H. Foing. “EMMIHS-III Mission General Overview”. 51st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, The Woodlands, Texas (16-20 March, 2020)

Moon Gallery

Articles

  1. P. Rajkakati “A Space for Art in Space”. Journal of Space Philosophy vol. 11, no. 2 (Fall 2022)

Conferences

  1. P. Rajkakati “Bhedadipika – exploring the art-science duality through the medium of space”. 73rd International Astronautical Congres (IAC-2022), Paris (September 2022)
  2. A. Sitnikova, E. Glukhova, B. H. Foing, S. McCarthy, P. Rajkakati, M. Kuiper “Moon Gallery”. Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX-2021), St Petersburg (June 2021)
  3. E. Glukhova, A. Sitnikova, B. H. Foing, P. Rajkakati “Moon Gallery - The best visions for the future Moon Culture”. International Astronautical Congress (IAC CyberSpace edition) (October 2020)
  4. P. Rajkakati "Bhedadipika: An illustation of Duality. European Planetary Science Congress 2019, Geneva, Switzerland (September 2021)

Other

Conferences

  1. P. Rajkakati, J.S. Pathak, D. Barman “Remote-Sensing Technologies Towards Flood Mitigation in India's Northeast Region: A Case-Study”. International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Paris (September 2022)
  2. P. Rajkakati. “Science Outreach through Art: Experience as an scientist-artist in public engagement”. Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX-2021), St Petersburg (June 2021)
  3. Y. Akisheva, P. Delande, C. Nassey, C. Moriceau, P. Rajkakati, G. Thirion, N. Soulard, M. Beliazi, J. Kemp. “Our Giant Leap: towards a diverse and inclusive aerospace workforce”. International Astronautical Congress (IAC CyberSpace edition) (October, 2020)
  4. H. Quizzagan, P. Rajkakati , S. Santra, L. M. Goh, H. S. Wijeratne, Y. Kim, B. I. Lo, A. Khanal, K. A. M. Nodado, S. Dhoju. “Cooperation and Capacity-building of Asia-Pacific Countries for Space Exploration”. Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX-2021), St Petersburg (June 2021)



As Invited Speaker


Speaker | August 2023
"Foire d’innovation scientifique et technologique"
Fondation Femmes & STEM, Kinshasa

Speaker | March 2023
"Exploring the role of art in space"
NewSpace India Podcast

Panelist | February 2023
"Indigenous knowledge taking us to the stars"
Nexus Nairobi 2023, Nairobi

Panelist (along with filmmaker Nina E. Schoenefeld) | October 2022
"The Artist Speaks Out Series"
ikonoTV

Panelist | August 2022
"Collective Musing - Arts, Humanities and Space"
Oxford Space Initiative & Karman Project, Oxford

Panelist | April 2022
"Benefits and Impact of Space Exploration on the Indian Society"
First SG[India] (SGAC local event in India), Virtual

TEDx | June 2022
"Hold Onto Your Sketchbooks Even If You Study Science"
TEDxKids@NMS

Talk | April 2022
"Space and Art"
Indian Women in Space Conference, Virtual

Panelist (in a panel including astronauts) | June 2021
Next Gen: Plenary Session - International Collaboration for Sustainable Space Exploration.
Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX-2021), St Petersburg

Panelist (in French) | March 2021
"AERONAUTIQUE & SPATIAL, une constellation de métiers ?"
Women in Leadership, at the Aeroscopia Museum, Toulouse

TEDx | February 2021
"Art and Culture for Successful Space Societies"
TEDxSPSGhy, South Point School, Guwahati (link available soon)

Webinar host | February 2021
"Why do we need more women astronauts?"
Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC): Our Giant Leap webinar series

Interactive webinar with school students | February 2021
"Exploring the Moon"
Assam down town University (AdtU) - National Science Day Celebration

Interactive webinar | February 2021
"The Importance of Analog Astronaut Missions for Future Human Space Exploration"
Nepalese Space Research Association (NESRA)

TEDx - 20 selected pitches (in French) | July 2020
"L'art et l'espace"
TEDxSaclay 2020 - Appel à Idées 2020 : Terre, notre vaisseau

Webinar host | June 2020
"Shifted Lunar Perspectives, with Barbara Imhof"
Space Generation Advisory Council: Our Giant Leap webinar series

Talk show (virtual) | February 2020
"Space Science and Careers"
Women Engineers Form of Assam (WEFA)

Talk show (Live TV - in French) | January 2019
"Et si les sciences c'était pour moi ?"
L'Oréal-UNESCO "For Girls in Science", at the City of Science & Industry (Paris, France)

Talk show with college students | July 2017
"On Pursuing Scientific Careers for Women"
Handique Girls College (Guwahati, Assam)


During PhD


Laboratory experiment advisor, ISAE-Supaéro | 2019
Course: Experimental Project on GNSS, 1st year engineering class (PREX A1)

Teaching assistant, ISAE-Supaéro | 2019
Course: Applied Mathematics, MSc Aerospace Engineering (MAE1)

Teaching asistant, ISAE-Supaéro | 2018
Course: Signal Processing (for Navigation), 1st year engineering class (1A)


Other


English tutor | 2016-17
Freelance - Bachelor student in L1 (Toulouse, France)

Mathematics tutor | 2013
Freelance - Middle-school students (Villeneuve-sur-Lot, France)