Among our members you will find students, IT specialists, lawyers, doctors or teachers. But all of us are joining one thing – a passion for the universe.

Below you can read the interests and several of our members:

M2M Solutions

 A technology company dedicated to supply chain management simply and efficiently. From July 2019, the entire company M2M Solutions became an official member of SOSA and we started an intensive cooperation. We are very grateful that this innovative and promising company under the leadership of Ing. Martin Janča added and we believe that we can do great things together!

 

Brain:IT

  Brain: IT has been operating in the technology market since 2012, when it began to focus intensively on the development of neural networks and intelligent containers. Since 2017, they have added custom software solutions, database development and management, and information systems consulting to the artificial intelligence. Since January 2020, the entire company has become a member of SOSA.

 

Jakub Kapuš

Chairman of the Slovak Organisation for Space Activities

He has been interested in space and astronomy since childhood. He studied electrical engineering in Prague, but later decided to leave school. In 2009, together with other enthusiasts, he founded the civic association Slovak Organization for Space Activities (SOSA), under which he began to actively promote the need for the space industry in Slovakia and work on the project of stratospheric probes.
In 2011, he definitely returned from Prague to Slovakia, where he started work on the development of the first Slovak satellite skCUBE and became the leader of this project.
As a lecturer, he participates in many scientific and technical conferences and educational events, serves as chairman of SOSA and has his own technology company Spacemanic.

 

Michaela Musilová

Vice-Chairwoman of the Slovak Organisation for Space Activities

In 2014, she completed a simulated mission at Mars Desert Research Station in the USA. Her scientific field is astrobiology with a focus on extremophiles – organisms living in extreme conditions. She did research at the California Institute of Technology, USA, University College London and the University of Bristol. She also received a research scholarship directly at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, collaborating on several ESA projects (eg the MoonLITE project). She works as a visiting professor at the Institute of Nuclear and Physical Engineering (ÚFJI) at FEI STU and her main job is to manage a simulated space station on Mauna Loa in Hawaii.

 

Norbert Werner

Ambassador of the Slovak Organisation for Space Activities

Supermassive black holes and their influence on mass distribution in the universe – this is what Norbert studies with his team.
This young and very talented astrophysicist discovered part of the missing matter in the universe by capturing the images and spectra of a bridge of hot gas connecting two clusters of galaxies. It was a significant discovery because most of the mass formed by the atoms is in the form of this gas that has never been seen before.
He received astrophysical education at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice.  He worked as an independent scientist at the Institute of Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University, California, USA, where he also worked on the preparation of the American-Japanese Astro-H satellite.

 

Libor Lenža

Ambassador of the Slovak Organisation for Space Activities

In 1991, he started working at the Valašské Meziříčí Observatory as a specialist focusing on observing manifestations of solar activity and other areas of observational astronomy and popularization. In 1995 he became the director of this observatory and is still there today. He also works at Mendel University in Brno. He also founded the Wallachian Astronomical Society, is an SOSA ambassador and focuses, among other things, on geology, chemistry, new technologies, energy and spectroscopy. He is the main solver of several joint cross-border projects, such as SMZV or SPVONT.

 

Miroslav Šmelko

He is a training manager at the Faculty of Aviation of the Technical University in Košice. In 2012, he was awarded as the author of the best doctorate at TUKE in the category “Scientific aspect of work”. He worked on the orientation system of the skCUBE satellite and was already at the birth of this project.

 

 

 

Adam Krovina

He studied measurement and information technology at FEI STU, he has a doctorate in metrology at SJF STU. He joined the activities of SOSA among the first members in 2009 work on the project of the stratospheric probe JULO 1, later JULO 2. It was mainly the development of electronics and firmware. He is currently working on the Ardea project and the associated ESA PECS WAFER project. He is also engaged in 3D design and prototype production by 3D printing and milling. He is a co-founder of the Mach & Krovina brand.

 

Marcel Frajt

Vice-Chairman of the Slovak Organisation for Space Activities

Student of robotics and cybernetics at FEI STU in Bratislava. As an active member, he participates in various technical projects, mainly in the field of stratospheric flights or satellite technologies. He is also involved in activities related to the popularization of space science and technology for young people and the general public. As part of the Erasmus program, he studied at Aalto University (Helsinki, Finland), where he participated in CAD design and integration of the Foresail-1 satellite.

 

Monika Kubičáková

General secretary of the Slovak Organisation for Space Activities

She studied psychology at Comenius University in Bratislava and worked in marketing and business during her studies. She became a member of SOSA in 2015 and since then she has been actively involved in the association. Its primary focus is marketing, popularization and education. He is currently working on the overall functioning of the Slovak Space Agency, the coordination of volunteers, the organization of events and crowdfunding.

 

 

Matej Novák

Student of applied informatics at FEI STU. Thanks to the win of the Copernicus Hackaton event in Brno, he is currently involved in one of the 50 projects of the Copernicus Accelerator program, which evaluates air quality at the level of cities and states. He also participated in the AMBT project of the Austrian ÖeWF forum, where he gained his first experience in managing analog missions. In addition to this experience, he works on the development of high-reliability software for the “public safety” sector and wants to transfer the experience gained to various space-focused projects.

 

Katarína Molnárová

When she joined SOSA, her passion for space became a way of life. At the bachelor’s degree she studied molecular biology at the Faculty of Science in Bratislava, where she focused on DNA damage by cosmic UV radiation and radiation, and at the master’s degree she decided on plant physiology, where she tests the resistance of arctic mosses. In 2017-2018, she completed training in Innsbrück for a position at the Mission Support Center on the monthly simulated Martian mission AMADEE-18, in which she participated as Ground Support and Remote Science Support. He currently works as a biological consultant on the Growbox project and as a volunteer at popularization events.

 

Samuel Toman

Student of electrical engineering at FEI STU. As a member of SOSA, he is actively involved in stratospheric balloon projects and also in the picoballoon project for float flights. He is also involved in amateur astronomy. His favorite activity is photographing various space objects and his photographs have been awarded at international competitions.

 

 

Petra Chudíková

She studied law at Pavel Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. She has been a part of SOSA since 2015 and has been intensively involved in the running of the association as a legal and economic advisor. In the past, she also worked as a legal consultant and currently works as a corporate lawyer.

 

 

Michal Zajaček

Michal is a junior postdoctoral researcher in the VLBI group of the Max Planck Instute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany. He continues to be a member of the Galactic centre workgroup of Prof. Dr. Andreas Eckart at the University of Cologne as well as an external member of the Prague Relativistic Astrophysics Group. In 2014 he was selected for the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) programme. Michal is also a member of SFB956 Conditions and impact of star formation and a member of the StrongGravity consortium. In August 2016 he became an honourable member of the DAUP-Orion astronomical organization located in Makarska, Croatia.

 

Michaela Brchnelová

A young scientist, who already as a 17-year-old managed twice to come on top of the more than 1700 participants of the world’s most prestigious Intel ISEF scientists.
The research deals with high-energy particles coming to Earth from our galaxy. This cosmic radiation represents a high percentage of damage to satellites in orbit. In addition to this research, Michaela is also engaged in the search for, and training of, young future scientists, including the Mars Expedition, which she also completed in 2011. The planet 31462 Brchnelova is named after her.
Currently, she is studying Aerospace Engineering at the Technical University in Delft, Netherlands.

 

Lukáš Obermajer

High school student from Bratislava. As a member of SOSA since 2019, he has been actively involved in many projects. His activities include, for example, the development of a picoballoon, the development of a short-range missile for avionics testing, and assistance in the construction of a stratospheric glider. He also enjoys volunteering, SOSA’s popularization activities, and shares his passion for science and space with others. After high school, he plans to pursue a career related to space, plans to get into Delft University of Technology at the Faculty of Aeronautical Engineering.

 

Silvia Sabovíková

She is studying astronomy at the Dutch University of Groningen (RUG). Silvia is a future scientist with a creative soul. The council creates – sews, embroiders, devotes itself to photography and music. In addition to studying in Groningen, he also volunteers at various astronomical events organized by the university – popularization-scientific events such as lectures, observatory tours, or a program in a planetarium or cinema. The Council would be an intern at ESA, or at an exotic observatory such as La Palma. However, it still pulls her back to Slovakia, where she wants to develop science and astronomy.

 

Jakub Nagy

Jakub is 16 years old and studies at a school for exceptionally gifted children. He specializes in the design of circuit boards and hardware in the field of space and meteorological engineering. Within SOSA, he focuses mainly on picoballoons, constructs hardware for autopilot on a stratospheric glider and also designs a data logger that stores information about overload and pressure. He is also involved in the development of smaller projects and satellite components for the technology company Spacemanic.

 

 

Dalimír Pišťanský

He is a student at the Secondary School in Bratislava, and plans to study aeronautical engineering at the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands. At SOSA, he spreads his enthusiasm from space, especially at various popular events, but regularly applies his expertise and skills in various projects, such as water rockets, where he teaches physics and construction to course participants. He is also involved in modeling, and thanks to him, we at SOSA have several truly exclusive space models.

 

 

Róbert Vokál

Lover of flying and extreme sports. As one of the winners of the Axe Apollo Space Academy, he was to experience a suborbital flight up to a height of 110 km aboard the spacecraft XCOR Lynx. Unfortunately, the mission was canceled and so he decided to start his own competition for a trip into space. Robert, whose hobby is, among other things, collecting adrenaline experiences, is also the main creator of our educational seminar NoGravity. In addition, he tries his best to show the public that even the universe is not out of reach for us, when one really wants and goes after one’s desires.

 

Beata Plaskurová

She comes from Nové Mesto nad Váhom and graduated from a bilingual Slovak-Spanish grammar school. He studies physics and works with children and gifted youth. She also presented her educational methodologies at Expo-Sciences Europe in Toulouse, France. She is a member of SOSA and co-organizer of the Mars Expedition competition, which she went through herself in 2015 and completed a 101-hour simulated mission to Mars. Today she is the coordinator of the semifinal round.