2026

• Seminars in 2026:

  • 13th Seminar (February 6, 2026)
    Innovation for Space to Engage the Public More Completely
    Prof. Philip Metzger (Director, Stephen W. Hawking Center for Microgravity Research and Education, University of Central Florida)

  • 14th Seminar (March 27, 2026)
    How to Use GIS for a Paper to Publish in SSCI Journals
    Prof. Jinwon Kim (University of Florida)

  • 15th Seminar (April 17, 2026)
    A Quantitative Research Methods in Tourism (with an Emphasis on Experimental Research)
    Prof. Sara Dolnicar (University of Queensland)

• Conferences in 2026:

  • 1st Conference: 2026. 2. 9-12. The 36th Annual Council for Australasian Tourism and Hospitality Education Conference (CAUTHE 2026), Adelaide Australia(https://leishman.eventsair.com/cauthe-2026-conference/)

    • When space weather meets space tourists: Applying chaos theory to navigate the unpredictable risks of commercial space travel (Jo, Y., Park, J., Jo, H., Kim, D., Kim, M., Metzger, P., & Kim, M. J.)

2025

• Seminars in 2025:

  • 4th Seminar (January 7, 2025)
    Analysis of the Effects on Payload During Rocket Launch

  • 5th Seminar (January 20 – February 7, 2025)
    How to Use GeoAI for Research

  • 6th Seminar (February 25, 2025)
    Space Tourism Marketing: How Effective Is Social Media?

  • 7th Seminar (March 28, 2025)
    AI and Digital Tourism
    Prof. Hakseung Shin (Hanyang University)

  • 8th Seminar (April 18, 2025)
    The Psycho-Physiological Benefits of Travel
    Prof. James Petrick (Texas A&M University)

  • 9th Seminar (May 28, 2025)
    The Science of Space Life: Redefining Health, Biology, and Exploration
    Dr. Fathi Karouia (NASA)

  • 10th Seminar (May 30, 2025)
    Space Tourism and AI: Research Opportunities and Challenges
    Prof. Yan Arthur Huang (UCF Rosen College)

  • 11th Seminar (October 17, 2025)
    How to Apply Big Data Analytics and GeoAI for Research to Publish in SSCI Journals?
    Dr. C.K. Lee (Kyung Hee University)

  • 12th Seminar (November 7, 2025)
    How to Deal with Rejections, Major and Minor Revisions: Evaluating Sample Articles
    Dr. Charlie Chung (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University & Kyung Hee University)

• Conferences in 2025:

  • 1st Conference: 2025. 01.16. The Tourism Sciences Society of Korea(TOSOK)

    • Immersive Insights: Virtual Reality’s Dual Role in Space Tourism Risk Assessment and Promotion (Lee, H.Y., Han, S., Shin, H., & Kim, M.J.)

  • 2nd Conference: 2025. 06.24-26. TTRA International Conference in Europe 2025.
    (https://ttra.com/events/2025-galway-ireland/)

    • Drivers and barriers in space tourism: Exploring virtual reality’s role through a mixed-method approach. (Lee, H. Y., Han, S., Shin, H., Kwon, O., Kim, M. J., & Hall, C. M.)

    • To safely go where few have gone before: A systematic literature review of space tourism. (Choi, H., Kim, Y., Sheen, K., Hall, C. M., Kim, M. S., Park, S., & Kim, M. J.)

  • 3rd Conference: 2025. 06.25-26. The 2025 Space Academic Conference.
    (https://ksas.or.kr/conference/ConferenceView.asp?AC=0&CODE=CC20250301)

    • The impact of space tourism events on public perception: An event system theory approach. (Hong, M., Lee, C., Lee, Y. K., & Kim, M. J.)

  • 4th Conference: 2025. 06.25-27. 10th International XR-Metaverse Conference.
    (https://www.iaiti.org/)

    • The role of space VR experience in window design for space tourism. (Kwon, O., Kang, Y., Bae, S., Liang, J., & Kim, M. J. )

  • 5th Conference: 2025. 07.24-27. 2025 Global Marketing Conference (GMC) at Hong Kong.

    • Virtual gateways to the space: Unveiling space tourism perceptions through virtual reality’s role. (Han, S., Lee, H. Y., Cho, H. D., Shin, H., Lee, Y. K, & Kim, M. J.)

  • 6th Conference: 2025.10.29-11.01. 2025 Korea Space Science Society Fall Conference

    • Risk of space tourism through black swan theory: Applying risk management. (Jo, H., Jo, Y., Petrick, F. J., Park, J., & Kim, M.J.)

2024

• Establishment of AirStas

  • Finalized the concept of establishing a research center that integrates AI and sustainable space tourism.

  • Confirmed the official name: AI Research Center for Space Tourism and Sustainability (AirStas).

• Secured Grant

  • Awarded the "2024 Global Interdisciplinary Research in Humanities and Social Sciences" grant from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF).

  • Project title: "Risk and Commercial Human Presence in Space: Focusing on Space Tourism."

• Appointment of Key Members

  • Professor Myung Ja Kim was appointed as the founding director of AirStas.

  • Professor Man Seok Kim was appointed as the associate director of AirStas.

  • Dr. Ho-Young Lee was appointed as the general manager/Senior Researcher of AirStas.

  • Sin-Hee Han, a doctoral student, was appointed as the accounting

• Appointment of Co-Investigators/Board of Directors

  • Sergio Alvarez (University of Central Florida)

  • Stuart John Barnes (Newcastle University)

  • Erik Brynjolfsson (Stanford University)

  • Namho Chung (Kyung Hee University)

  • Cihan Cobanoglu (University of South Florida)

  • Joaquim Dias Soeiro (Sunway University)

  • Alan Fyall (University of Central Florida)

  • Ben Goh (Macau University of Science and Technology)

  • Michael Hall (University of Canterbury)

  • Heesup Han (Sejong University)

  • Yan Arthur Huang (University of Central Florida)

  • Stanislav Ivanov (Varna University/Zangador Research Institute)

  • Jinwon Kim (University of Florida)

  • Jinok Susanna Kim (Macau University of Science and Technology)

  • Ohbyung Kwon (Kyung Hee University)

  • Yong-Ki Lee (Sejong University)

  • Phillip Metzger (University of Central Florida)

  • Hossein Olya (Sheffield University)

  • Soojong Pak (Kyung Hee University)

  • Young-Deuk Park (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)

  • James F Petrick (Texas A&M University)

  • Neethiahnanthan Ari Ragavan (Taylor’s University)

  • Siamak Seyfi (University of Oulu)

  • Hakseung Shin (Hanyang University)

  • Marianna Sigala (Newcastle University)

  • Kevin So (Purdue University)

  • Pornpisanu Promsivapallop (Prince of Songkla University)

  • Craig Webster (Ball State University/Zangador Research Institute)

• Appointment of Industry Partner

  • Hyungug Jung from Staco was appointed as the technical specialist of AirStas.

• Appointment of Senior Researchers

  • Hyo Dan Cho (Kyung Hee University)

  • Sung-Eun Kang (Kyung Hee University)

• Appointment of Researchers

  • Sylvia Choi (Kyung Hee University)

  • Yunkyoung Jo (Kyung Hee University)

  • Hyeona Jo (Kyung Hee University)

  • Yujeong Jo (Hanyang University)

  • Dae-il Kim (Kyung Hee University)

  • Subin Kim (Kyung Hee University)

  • Yea Kim (Kyung Hee University)

  • Changkyu Lee (Kyung Hee University)

  • Kisung Sheen (Kyung Hee University)

• Seminars in 2024

  • 1st Seminar (July 26, 2024)
    Seminar on Space Weather and Space Medicine

  • 2nd Seminar (September 4, 2024)
    Discussion and Q&A on Multifaceted Research Directions in Space Tourism

  • 3rd Seminar (December 20, 2024)
    Space Tourism Research Seminar from a Space Physics Perspective