An Astrophysicist in Space Operations

Nikolai von Krusenstiern.

Portrait of Nikolai von Krusenstiern

Space operations. Science. Creative connections.

I’m part of the team operating ESA’s XMM-Newton satellite and teach spacecraft operations.
Beyond work, I share the universe in talks and improvised music.
Connecting people matters to me in all of it.
Being a husband and the father of two young women fills me with gratitude,
as do deep, lasting friendships—both those that shaped me at 16 and those I found later in life.
I’m also an active member of the wider Krusenstiern family.

Explore the portfolio

Current

Activities

WhenGroupRoleActivity
MusicParticipantRitmo con Señas Masterclass in Rome w/ Santiago Vázquez
PersonalWalked the Camino Portugués de la Costa with my Wife
today (DOY 300)
MusicParticipantMúsica con Señas Festival, Tübingen
MusicOrganizing TeamFolk Marathon Tübingen
WorkTeam LeadXMM: Main Tank Replenishing (MTR) Campaign 2027
WorkSole DeveloperINTEGRAL: Build RACPs Situational awareness tool

Experience & Interests

Portfolio

On-board Hardware and S/W Development

In Orbit

  • HEPI — INTEGRAL instrument hardware (FPGA/ASIC) 1996–1998

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    Role — Hardware design and development, submitted as a diploma thesis

    Goal — Turn the raw photon stream of IBIS into usable science data by preprocessing every detected event on board.

    Implementation — Designed and developed HEPI at the University of Tübingen: an ASIC for the gamma-ray imaging instrument aboard ESA’s INTEGRAL satellite.

    IBIS observes with two detector planes covering roughly 15 keV to 10 MeV: ISGRI, a cadmium telluride detector optimised for lower energies, and PICsIT, a caesium iodide scintillator detector for higher energies. HEPI interfaces with both planes. It processes individual photon events, synchronises their timing and identifies coincident events, which are used to reconstruct photon interactions and improve background rejection.

    During the engineering phase, the design ran on FPGAs, so the logic could be tested and revised before it was committed to the fixed ASIC. The full development is documented in the diploma thesis (in German), submitted in 1998.

    Term Meaning
    HEPI Hardware Event Preprocessor for IBIS
    IBIS Imager on Board the INTEGRAL Satellite
    INTEGRAL International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory
    ISGRI INTEGRAL Soft Gamma-Ray Imager
    PICsIT PIxellated CsI Telescope
    ASIC Application-Specific Integrated Circuit
    FPGA Field-Programmable Gate Array
    keV/MeV kilo-/mega-electronvolt (photon energy)
    HEPI
    HEPI
  • IASW — INTEGRAL instrument software (Ada) 2002–2009

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    Role — Team Lead, software developer

    Goal — Command and monitor the IBIS instrument aboard INTEGRAL and process its science data on board.

    Challenge — The software runs on the DPE, a radiation-tolerant 1750A processor clocked at 13 MHz with only 2 MB of memory.

    Implementation — IASW, developed at the University of Tübingen, runs priority-controlled tasks under CSSW, a preemptive multitasking operating system shared by all INTEGRAL instruments. Beyond telecommands and housekeeping, most of the processing effort goes into fetching and compressing histogram blocks and evaluating the single-photon events supplied by HEPI: loss-free compression, rejection of out-of-view Compton events and distribution of the limited telemetry rate between data types by priority.

    Fun fact — Our team found a bug in TLD’s certified Ada compiler, virtually unheard of for a certified compiler: an edge case in memory management on this particular hardware.

    Term Meaning
    IASW Instrument Application Software
    CSSW Common System Software
    IBIS Imager on Board the INTEGRAL Satellite
    INTEGRAL International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory
    DPE Data Processing Electronics
    1750A MIL-STD-1750A processor architecture
    HEPI Hardware Event Preprocessor for IBIS
    TLD certified Ada compiler vendor
    Ada programming language
    DPE
    DPE
  • CDMU — XMM-Newton main computer patch (Ada) 2017

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    Role — Sole Ada developer

    Goal — Enable the MTR aboard XMM-Newton by allowing the hydrazine to be cooled to the lower B-Side temperature limits.

    Challenge — Reaching those limits means switching off the A-Side hardware LTP, deliberately sacrificing a layer of hardware redundancy. The trade-off is justified only because the alternative carries an even higher risk, and only when compensated as far as possible by other means such as procedures, monitoring and software patches.

    Implementation — Developed a CDMU software patch, applied in orbit, that extends the existing TDC/TCL patch to protect the state of the HLCLs in software, partly compensating for the reduced hardware redundancy.

    Term Meaning
    MTR Main Tank Replenishing
    CDMU Central Data Management Unit
    HLCL Heater Latching Current Limiter
    LTP Low-Temperature Protection
    HTP High-Temperature Protection
    TDC Thermal Duty Cycle
    TCL Thermal Control Loop
    Ada programming language
    MCR Main Control Room

Principal Spacecraft Operations Engineer

Operations

  • SOE — Spacecraft Operations Engineer 2009–now

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    Role — Principal Spacecraft Operations Engineer SOE

    Context — Astrophysicist by education, operating XMM-Newton as a member of its FCT in ESA’s OPS-OAX department. Every entry in this section is part of that day job.

    Term Meaning
    SOE Spacecraft Operations Engineer
    XMM-Newton X-ray Multi-Mirror satellite
    FCT Flight Control Team
    ESA European Space Agency
    OPS-OAX ESA operations department — XMM-Newton
  • MTR — Main Tank Replenishing (Ada, Fortran 77, Jython) 2015–now

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    MTR (Main Tank Replenishing)

    Role — Team Lead, Main Developer

    Goal — Keep the thrusters firing before the main tank runs dry by moving the fuel left in XMM-Newton’s other tanks, unusable by design, into tank 1. No such tank-to-tank transfer was ever foreseen for a satellite built for a ten-year life.

    Challenge — Fuel had never been shifted between tanks of this design on a satellite in orbit, so the procedures had to be developed from scratch, with changes at every level.

    Implementation — Together with an orbit-control change that cut fuel consumption to under two kilograms a year, the yearly MTR keeps XMM-Newton flying into its third decade. Patched the on-board software in Ada, computed new DPs in Fortran 77 and wrote new TCs. Designed and validated extensive automation in MOIS and Jython to support the intensive manual operation. Five days of FCT simulations in the Main Control Room at ESOC followed, with advice from Airbus and the fuel system’s now-retired designer.

    Special operation — Once a year, a week of special operations pumps about 400 g of hydrazine from the auxiliary tanks (AT2–AT4) into the main tank (MT1). The window is summer: with Earth farthest from the Sun, solar illumination drops by about 15%, which helps cool the three auxiliary tanks as far as possible while MT1 is heated as hot as possible. A dedicated attitude keeps the Sun off the ATs as much as possible.

    Initially, this took six people working twelve-hour and longer shifts around the clock for five days and nights. Automation has since reduced the manual work to three points: the start; confirming double ground-station coverage for the critical phase, when no hydrazine is available in MT1; and the return to the operational configuration after the thermal stability phase that follows the gas transfer. The automation also pauses itself at every TC gap, such as during ground-station handovers.

    Fun fact — Before the first MTR campaign, we ran a simulation campaign under the full LEOP protocol, with the integrated XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL FCT together in the MCR. It validated the end-to-end changes and preparations for the MTR, trained the FCT and showcased the resulting procedures, spanning hardware, software and operational changes, to industry. Side effect: team building.

    Term Meaning
    MTR Main Tank Replenishing
    MCR Main Control Room
    FCT Flight Control Team
    XMM-Newton X-ray Multi-Mirror satellite
    AT auxiliary tank
    MT main tank
    G/S ground station
    DP derived parameter
    TC telecommand
    MOIS Manufacturing and Operations Information System
    ESOC European Space Operations Centre
    INTEGRAL International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory
    LEOP launch and early orbit phase
    Ada programming language
    Fortran 77 programming language
    Jython Python implementation for the JVM
    XMM MTR Simulation Campaign
    MTR simulation in the MCR, 2016
  • NRT: Telemetry Analysis (Python) 2022–2023

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    Role — Sole Developer

    Goal — Give the flight control team situational awareness on demand.

    Implementation — NRT analyses XMM-Newton’s telemetry in near real time and turns housekeeping and instrument parameters into dedicated plots every ten minutes. The result is an automatic, always-ready overview that neither the mission control system nor ad-hoc plots by individual team members provide.

    The need is built into the spacecraft: XMM-Newton stores nothing on board. With 24/7 ground-station coverage its telemetry streams down continuously, and whatever is not looked at on the way down is lost.

    During the yearly MTR, the plots let the team check all related subsystems quickly and follow each parameter across the five days of special operations.

    Term Meaning
    NRT near-real-time
    XMM-Newton X-ray Multi-Mirror satellite
    MTR Main Tank Replenishing
    Python programming language
  • TLgenAssist: Timeline Generation Automation (Python) 2026–2027

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    Role — Sole Developer

    Goal — Replace cumbersome clicking through different tools on different machines.

    Implementation — TLgenAssist, written in Python, generates timelines for XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL in seconds from a single command-line call.

    A timeline is a file of timed commands, built from prepared flight-dynamics products, that the ground sends automatically; the on-board queue holds only about 200 time-tagged commands.

    The timeline also feeds MOIS, the tool used for the additional timed operations procedures.

    Term Meaning
    TLgenAssist Timeline Generation Automation
    XMM-Newton X-ray Multi-Mirror satellite
    INTEGRAL International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory
    MOIS Manufacturing and Operations Information System
    Python programming language

Consulting

Technical Support

  • Isofleet & Verimatic GmbH 2008–2013

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    Role — Science consultant for several years (since ended)

    Goal — Strengthen two small German engineering companies, startups from the ESA business incubator in Darmstadt, with scientific and technical expertise.

    Term Meaning
    ESA European Space Agency
    Isofleet & Verimatic
    Isofleet & Verimatic
  • Mars Express fuel estimation 2013

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    Role — Apply a new, independent estimation method

    Goal — Plan how long the orbiter can keep flying by tracking how much propellant Mars Express has left, bookkeeping tank pressure, temperature and burn history. NASA needed the answer to know whether Mars Express could serve as a data relay for its surface missions.

    Mars Express, ESA’s first mission to another planet, has orbited Mars since 2003 and is flown from ESOC in Darmstadt.

    Implementation — Developed and applied the method in a dedicated study of the fuel on board. Boris Yendler’s study Active Propellant Management later backed up its results.

    Term Meaning
    MEX Mars Express
    ESOC European Space Operations Centre
    ESA European Space Agency
    Mars Express
    Mars Express
  • Living Globes 2020–now

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    Role — Science and technical consultant

    Goal — Let everyone see the whole Earth as astronauts saw it from the Moon, and so reconnect people with the living planet they live on.

    Implementation — Providing science and technical consulting to the Living Globes Society, a non-profit founded by Sten Linnander (LinkedIn) that creates digital spheres displaying real-time satellite images for homes, classrooms and public spaces.

    Term Meaning
    Living Globes Society non-profit creating real-time-Earth spheres
    Overview Effect astronauts’ shift in awareness seeing Earth from space
    ESA European Space Agency
    Living Globes
    Living Globes
  • eROSITA operations support 2018

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    Role — Operations support

    Goal — Support the mission teams’ preparation for launch.

    eROSITA, the main instrument of the Spektrum-Röntgen-Gamma satellite, was launched to an L2 orbit in 2019 to perform the first all-sky survey in the medium X-ray band, mapping galaxy clusters, black holes and the signatures of dark energy.

    Challenge — A year before launch, the eROSITA team at MPE in Munich hit a communication deadlock: astrophysicists and engineers were circling a blocking problem in different mental models and wording.

    Implementation — Brought the teams back to mutual understanding in a two-hour workshop of asking questions and rephrasing each side’s answers in the other’s model.

    Term Meaning
    eROSITA extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array
    SRG Spektrum-Röntgen-Gamma satellite
    MPE Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
    L2 second Lagrange point
    eROSITA
    eROSITA

Available — book via Contact.

Volunteering

Non-Profit

  • Tübinger Studentenwerk e.V. (Board Member) 1989–1993

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    Role — Board member

    Goal — Get the finances of the student-run non-profit back on track after a major financial crisis. The association was founded in 1920 to provide affordable housing and services to students.

    Implementation — I was asked to join the board to help stabilise the finances. Together we tightened financial oversight while the association recovered, and most of the loss was eventually repaid. The taz later reported on the case.

    Term Meaning
    Studentenwerk student self-help association, founded 1920
    e.V. eingetragener Verein — registered association
  • Flüchtlinge am Werk e.V. (Co-Founder) 2016–2021

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    Role — Co-founder

    Goal — Help refugees integrate in a practical way: “Taten statt Warten”.

    Implementation — The volunteer association I co-founded in Kusterdingen/Mähringen works side by side with refugees, building garden furniture and more in the Farrenstall workshop. It also runs a permaculture school project in Senegal and hosts cultural events on site. Since 2021, I have been a regular member.

    Term Meaning
    Flüchtlinge am Werk “refugees at work”
    Taten statt Warten “deeds, not waiting” — the association’s motto
    e.V. eingetragener Verein — registered association
    Farrenstall the workshop venue
  • Ritmo con Señas Germany (Founder) 2022–now

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    Role — Founder

    Goal — Spread the sign-language approach to group improvisation in Germany.

    Implementation — The German branch of the worldwide Ritmo con Señas movement coordinates groups in Tübingen, Berlin and Darmstadt. We work together nationally and internationally through joint workshops, festivals and exchanges. Many of us play instruments, so bring yours if you have one; if not, your voice, your hands or any found rhythm will do.

    Our website gives groups without a site of their own a public face, so they can announce their workshops and concerts.

    Term Meaning
    Ritmo con Señas “rhythm with signs” — sign-language approach to conducted improvisation
  • KlangFolk e.V. (Board Member) 2023–now

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    Role — Board member

    Goal — Open music and dance to everyone, whatever their background or skill.

    Implementation — Our non-profit association KlangFolk e.V. runs free weekly workshops in Tübingen. TüFolk is an orchestra that learns traditional melodies from around the world by ear. In Música con Señas, we improvise guided by a sign language; many of us play instruments, and you can join with yours or with your voice and hands. At Balfolk, anyone can join the traditional dances. Our members range from 16 to 85.

    Term Meaning
    e.V. eingetragener Verein — registered non-profit association
    TüFolk KlangFolk’s Tübingen folk orchestra
    Música con Señas improvisation guided by a sign language
    Balfolk traditional European social dances

Talks · Lectures

Speaking

  • Our Planets — for Kindergarten and Primary-School Audiences

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    Role — Workshop leader

    Goal — Give the youngest listeners their first tour of our Solar System in a hands-on workshop for kindergarten and primary-school audiences.

    Implementation — We go outside, and the children become the planets orbiting a central sun. There is just one rule: run if you are an inner planet like Mercury, and move very, very slowly if you are an outer one like Saturn. Without any further explanation, they discover that the planets share a common plane, and that a lot happens among the inner planets while little goes on far outside.

    Term Meaning
    inner planet close to the Sun — Mercury
    outer planet far from the Sun — Saturn
    Nikolai
    Nikolai
  • Kosmologie am Lagerfeuer — General Public

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    Role — Speaker and storyteller

    Goal — Make cosmology easy to grasp in the oldest lecture format there is: stories told around a campfire, for anyone curious about the universe.

    Implementation — Kosmologie am Lagerfeuer is a series of open-air evenings. Each one is built around a 20–30 minute theme: the four fundamental forces, how our Sun works, neutron stars and black holes. Afterwards, you can ask questions for as long as the fire lasts.

    Term Meaning
    fundamental forces gravity, electromagnetism, strong and weak nuclear
    neutron star collapsed core of a massive star
    black hole region where nothing escapes gravity
    Nikolai
    Nikolai
  • How does a Black Hole work? — High School Students

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    Role — Speaker

    Goal — Make black holes understandable for high-school students in a one-hour talk that builds the physics from the ground up.

    Implementation — How does a Black Hole work? starts with the four fundamental forces, then the Pauli exclusion principle and angular momentum. From there, I follow the life of a star: a molecular cloud collapses into a protoplanetary disk, and the young star ignites and burns on the fusion fires that keep it stable. Finally comes the collapse, where the star’s mass decides between three routes: a white dwarf for a sun-like star, a neutron star or a black hole.

    Term Meaning
    fundamental forces gravity, electromagnetism, strong and weak nuclear
    Pauli exclusion principle no two identical fermions share a quantum state
    protoplanetary disk gas and dust around a forming star
    white dwarf remnant of a sun-like star
    neutron star collapsed core of a massive star
    black hole region where nothing escapes gravity
  • Raumzeit Podcast — Planck 2013

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    Role — Interview guest

    Goal — Share how an ESA science mission really works.

    Implementation — In Raumzeit Podcast — Planck, a 100-minute interview, Tim Pritlove and I talk about the Planck spacecraft: on-board software maintenance, orbit control, data transmission and the planned end-of-mission shutdown.

    Term Meaning
    Raumzeit German space podcast (“space-time”)
    RZ055 episode 55
    ESA European Space Agency
    Planck satellite mapping the cosmic microwave background
    Nikolai
    Nikolai
  • Spacecraft Operations — Guest Professor, University of Würzburg 2019–now

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    Role — Guest professor

    Goal — Teach how satellites are operated, not just built, through tailored guest lectures on spacecraft operations for SATEC, the University of Würzburg’s Satellite Technology master’s programme.

    Implementation — My lectures cover how ESA works and how operations are done; ESA has never lost a mission within its designed lifetime. I bring in real stories of major anomalies, like when XMM-Newton went silent or the three hours that saved INTEGRAL, and how the team works together to recover.

    My colleagues and I also invite students to a special tour and lecture at the operations centre, giving them a behind-the-scenes look at how real spacecraft are controlled.

    Term Meaning
    SATEC Satellite Technology programme, Würzburg
    ESA European Space Agency
    XMM-Newton X-ray Multi-Mirror satellite
    INTEGRAL International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory
    Nikolai
    Nikolai

Available — book via Contact.

Bands

Music & Workshops

  • Wanderfeld (Guitar) 2003–2022

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    Role — Guitarist (acoustic, electric and bass)

    Goal — Improvise music with light as an equal instrument.

    Implementation — In Wanderfeld, an audio-visual ensemble playing light music since 2002, dozens of glowing pyramids by light artist Micha Armingeon are an instrument in their own right. Controlled live at 50 Hz, they play with and against Stephan Huber’s saxophone, my guitars and guests on keys or accordion. We all improvise together over patterns you can hear and see.

    The idea was born at the 100 Lichtjahre art action in Mössingen in 2002, and a year later the ensemble first performed as a trio in a former factory in Kirchentellinsfurt. More recently we played the Farrenstall Immenhausen for Flüchtlinge am Werk in 2021 and the HOLZKLANG Festival in Reutlingen in 2022. The pyramids have since been rebuilt with far brighter LEDs and a much wider dynamic range.

    Term Meaning
    Wanderfeld audio-visual ensemble active since 2002
    light pyramids installation by Micha Armingeon
    Wanderfeld
    Wanderfeld
    Concert
    Concert
    Nikolai
    Nikolai
  • Astronomisches Konzert 2013–now

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    Role — Solo musician and lecturer

    Goal — Share the beauty of the universe in a calm, contemplative way.

    Implementation — In the Astronomisches Konzert, I pair a few carefully chosen astronomical images with music I improvise to fit them on acoustic guitar and piano. Each image is projected large and briefly introduced from an astrophysicist’s point of view. With so few images, each one stays up long enough for you to take it in slowly and enjoy its beauty, and there is room for your questions afterwards.

    One of these concerts took place at the Starkenburg-Sternwarte observatory in Heppenheim.

    Term Meaning
    Astronomisches Konzert “the astronomical concert”
    Sternwarte observatory
    Astronomisches Konzert
    Astronomisches Konzert
  • Ritmo con Señas Darmstadt (Teacher) 2022–2025

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    Role — Teacher and facilitator

    Goal — Let anyone make music together in a group: no sheet music, no audition, everyone welcome.

    Implementation — A conductor shapes the improvisation in real time using Ritmo con Señas, a sign language of more than 130 hand and body signs for rhythm, melody, harmony and structure. The Argentine musician Santiago Vázquez created it in 2006.

    Groups — The first band to use it was Vázquez’s Buenos Aires ensemble La Bomba del Tiempo, which still plays weekly concerts; Santiago himself has since moved on to further musical projects.

    Our Darmstadt group brings together more than fifteen players, from complete beginners to professional musicians, with and without instruments. We improvise together in Darmstadt-Eberstadt, normally every fourth Tuesday of the month and free of charge (a donation for the room is welcome). You can simply drop in unannounced. Regular meetings are currently paused, but enquiries are always welcome.

    Beyond learning the method, the group is a place where participants gradually take turns in the conductor’s role. And if Darmstadt is too far away, the German network helps you find a group near you, or found one, from Tübingen and Berlin to anywhere in the world.

    Term Meaning
    Ritmo con Señas “rhythm with signs” — sign language for conducted improvisation
    conducted improvisation shaping a group’s improvisation in real time
    La Bomba del Tiempo Vázquez’s first Ritmo con Señas ensemble, Buenos Aires
    Nikolai
    Nikolai
  • Ritmo con Señas Workshops (Teacher) 2022–now

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    Role — Teacher

    Goal — Conducted group improvisation, open to absolutely everyone.

    Implementation — My entry-level workshops introduce the Ritmo con Señas sign language from scratch, so you start improvising with the group in the very first session, with no prior experience. Many of us play instruments, so bring yours if you have one; if not, your voice, your hands or any found rhythm will do.

    The method is documented in the bilingual Manual de Ritmo y Percusión con Señas e-Book by Santiago Vázquez. To go further, the German network lists workshops, groups and online courses.

    Term Meaning
    entry level no prior experience or instrument needed to join
    Ritmo con Señas
    Ritmo con Señas Book
    Nikolai
    Nikolai

Available — book via Contact.

Certifications & Ratings

Licences

  • PPL & IR — Instrument Rating 1989–1991

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    Role — Pilot

    Goal — Choice of flight rules by conditions: VFR in good weather, or an IFR flight plan and flight by reference to instruments alone in cloud and poor visibility

    Implementation — Flying under IFR requires the FAA instrument rating, defined in the Airman Certification Standards, on top of its prerequisite, the FAA VFR Private Pilot Licence (PPL)

    Term Meaning
    PPL Private Pilot Licence
    IR Instrument Rating
    IFR Instrument Flight Rules
    VFR Visual Flight Rules
    FAA Federal Aviation Administration
  • PADI Advanced Open Water Diver 1990–1991

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    Role — Diver

    Goal — Deeper, more proficient diving

    Implementation — The Advanced Open Water Diver, PADI’s second-level scuba certification, adds five adventure dives, including deep and underwater navigation, and qualifies the diver for depths of up to 30 metres

    Term Meaning
    PADI Professional Association of Diving Instructors
    scuba self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
  • Radio Amateur Licence — N1QPX 1993

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    Role — Radio amateur

    Goal — Transmission on the amateur radio bands

    Implementation — The FCC issued the required US licence under callsign N1QPX

    Term Meaning
    N1QPX US amateur callsign
    FCC Federal Communications Commission

Previous

Experience

  • Programmer 1983–now

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    Role — Programmer

    Goal — Keep alive a skill that has supported both work and private life for more than forty years.

    Implementation — Started in 1983 with BASIC on an Apple ][ Europlus, soon joined by assembler for its 6502 processor. The university years brought Sun workstations: shell, C, the GNU toolchain and LaTeX for everything that needed typesetting, followed later by Java and SQL. Python has been the daily companion since 2016.

    Term Meaning
    6502 the Apple ][’s microprocessor
    GNU free-software toolchain — compiler, shell, utilities
  • UNIX System Administrator (CONVEX Mainframe) 1988–1993

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    Role — UNIX system administrator at the ZDV, the computing centre of the University of Tübingen

    Goal — Keep the centre’s CONVEX vector minisupercomputer and its users running.

    Implementation — Ran the day-to-day administration of ConvexOS, a UNIX derived from 4.2BSD whose kernel was built to drive the machine’s parallel vector processors.

    Fun fact — The centre’s six-processor C3860 made the TOP500 supercomputer ranking in 1993.

    Term Meaning
    ZDV Zentrum für Datenverarbeitung — computing centre
    CONVEX vector minisupercomputer vendor
    ConvexOS 4.2BSD-derived UNIX for CONVEX systems
    C3860 six-processor CONVEX C3 system
    TOP500 twice-yearly supercomputer ranking
  • Freelance Consultant & Trainer (Firewalls, Oracle, SysAdmin, Programming, …) 1998–2002

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    Role — Independent consultant and trainer

    Goal — Support data-centre teams in designing, implementing and validating their systems, and train their staff.

    Implementation — Consulted and trained on networks and firewalls, Oracle databases, Unix mainframes and Linux servers, including their administration.

    Term Meaning
    SysAdmin system administrator
    Oracle relational database system
  • Herschel & Planck (OBDH/OBSM) 2010–2012

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    Role — OBDH/OBSM engineer

    Goal — Support the two telescopes ESA launched together in 2009: Herschel to observe the cool far-infrared universe, mainly star formation in molecular clouds, and Planck to map the CMB.

    Implementation — OBDH engineering covered the systems that move the vast amounts of science data between instruments and ground, as well as the autonomous commanding and control of the spacecraft. OBSM covered maintaining and updating the on-board software in flight. A 100-minute Raumzeit podcast interview covers the mission in depth, including its on-board software maintenance, orbit control and planned shutdown.

    Fun fact — Together with Silvano Manganelli, we were tasked with passivating both spacecraft: making sure the transponder could not turn itself back on once disabled — exactly what had happened to SOHO.

    It felt like fighting 1500 brilliant engineers: whatever trick we tried on the simulator, Herschel kept coming back, probing the safety and redundancy concept to the extreme.

    In the end we found a solution that, in hindsight, sounds almost too easy. Herschel bowed out as an orbiting testbed, and we applied the same to Planck.

    Term Meaning
    OBDH On-Board Data Handling
    OBSM On-Board Software Management
    ESA European Space Agency
    CMB cosmic microwave background
    SOHO Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
    Planck
    Planck
    Herschel
    Herschel
  • Sentinel-2 (OBDH/OBSM) 2012–2015

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    Role — OBDH/OBSM engineer

    Goal — Monitor land and vegetation in high-resolution multispectral detail for the Copernicus environment programme.

    Implementation — Sentinel-2 flies twin Earth-observation satellites. The OBDH engineering covered the same scope as described for Herschel & Planck above.

    Term Meaning
    OBDH On-Board Data Handling
    OBSM On-Board Software Management
    Copernicus EU/ESA Earth-observation programme
    Sentinel-2
    Sentinel-2

Get in touch

Contact

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