Published & Presented — 2026 IEEE Aerospace Conference
Mission-Oriented Site Selection for Future Lunar Mining Operations
E. Tulu, Y. A. Kaya
2026 IEEE Aerospace Conference · Big Sky, MT, USA
DOI: 10.1109/AERO66936.2026.11520082
View paperAstronautical Engineering student working on lunar in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), planetary remote sensing, and space systems engineering.
I am an Astronautical Engineering student at the University of Turkish Aeronautical Association. My research focuses on lunar resources and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU): mapping lunar mineralogy from orbital remote sensing data, selecting sites for landing and mining operations, and designing processing chains that turn regolith into structural alloys and oxygen.
I lead the Lunar Research Team (PHASE), support lunar geology research at TÜBİTAK UZAY as a volunteer research fellow, and serve as Project Manager of Moon-Hopper X, a lunar rover developed at my university with TÜBİTAK support. My industry experience includes CFD-driven design for meteorological instrumentation.
Assessing the distribution and grade of metal- and oxygen-bearing resources in lunar regolith.
Process and energy planning for producing structural alloys and liquid oxygen (LOX) from regolith.
Mineralogical mapping and ore grading from orbital data.
Mission-oriented, multi-criteria selection of landing and mining sites.
Processing planetary imagery with ASP, ISIS and QGIS for terrain and geological analysis.
E. Tulu, Y. A. Kaya
2026 IEEE Aerospace Conference · Big Sky, MT, USA
DOI: 10.1109/AERO66936.2026.11520082
View paperY. A. Kaya, S. Aydın, E. Tulu
77th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2026) · Antalya, Türkiye
Session D4.5 — Space Resources · Oral presentation · IAC-26,D4,5,1,x114176
Lunar Surface Integrated Rover
Project Manager · University of Turkish Aeronautical Association · Supported by TÜBİTAK MTKB
A student team developing an imaging-capable lunar rover designed to adapt to a range of science missions. As Project Manager, I coordinate a team structured around an academic lead, a systems engineer and subsystem leads; I own the project documentation and schedule, and run design reviews and revision cycles together with the systems engineer.
Designed the protective cover geometry for a radiosonde humidity sensor, using CFD flow analysis to evaluate airflow around the sensor and refine the design into a simulation-validated engineering solution.
Worked across the full CFD workflow — geometry preparation in Solidworks, meshing in Salome, solving in OpenFOAM and post-processing in ParaView — while building a solid grounding in meteorological instrumentation.
TÜBİTAK UZAY
Supporting lunar geology research and contributing to scientific projects: landing site analysis using remote sensing data and geological maps, and support for field work.
Mars on Earth Project (MoEP)
Leading the team's lunar geology research; together we produce papers and develop landing site selection software. I also contribute to MoEP as a web writer and student coordinator.
ASTHKU - Astronomy and Space Sciences Club
Leading a university club dedicated to promoting space sciences and encouraging students to engage with science.
T3 Foundation — DENEYAP Technology Workshops, 2026 National Exam
Evaluated the exams of middle and high school students.
ASPCO CubeSat Competition
Contributed to academic research and analysis, and to the documentation of reports and papers.
KREIKEN Observatory Ground Station
Satellite and spacecraft tracking, with the aim of moving into radio astronomy.
TÜBİTAK 4004 - Dünya Ötesini Bir Bilsem
Gave presentations on aviation, space and space communication technologies, including virtual reality experiences.
Freelance
Worked independently as a comic book translator and editor.
University of Turkish Aeronautical Association
2022 – PresentTAMSAT — Amateur Satellite Technologies
2023 – PresentFor research collaborations, space projects, or a conversation about lunar exploration, feel free to get in touch.