2025

• Seminars in 2025:

  • 1st Seminar: 2025.01.07.
    - Analysis of the effects on payload during rocket launch

  • 2nd Seminar: 2025.01.20.- 2025.02.07.
    - How to use GeoAI for research

  • 3rd Seminar: 2025.02.25.
    - Space Tourism Marketing: How Effective Is Social Media?

  • 4th Seminar: 2025.03.28.
    - AI and digital tourism

  • 5th Seminar: 2025.04.18.
    - The Psycho-Physiological Benefits of Travel

• 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.)

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: 2024.07.26.
    - Seminar on space weather and space medicine

  • 2nd Seminar: 2024.09.04.
    - Discussion and Q&A on multifaceted research directions in space tourism

  • 3rd Seminar: 2024.12.20.
    - Space tourism research seminar from a space physics perspective