I lead a team at ESA’s ESAC Science Data Centre in Madrid, Spain, working on science planning, analysis and archiving for all of ESA’s planetary missions.
What’s your role?
I’m the SPICE Service Lead at the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) in Madrid. More specifically, I work within ESA’s ESAC Science Data Centre (ESDC). I joined in December 2019.
In the SPICE Service we support the science planning, analysis and archiving for all ESA planetary missions.
What’s a typical day in your working life like?
My work is very varied because our team provides consultancy on geometric data and computations such as trajectory predictions, the pointing of spacecraft and modelling for spacecraft instruments.
We work on missions in the very early stages of development, like M-MATISSE or Comet-Interceptor, to missions already in operation, such as Mars Express, ExoMars, BepiColombo, Solar Orbiter, JUICE and Hera. We interface directly with the ground segment teams of all these missions, with all the instrument teams – this can be more than 10 for some missions – and with the whole science community.
We also participate in planetary data and science conferences on a yearly basis to interact with the SPICE users, get feedback and foster possible collaborations.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
As a space enthusiast and scientist myself, I really enjoy having the chance to learn and participate in such varied missions, for example ExoMars, Solar Orbiter and Hera. These missions are travelling to every corner of the solar system, each spacecraft has a unique design and the instruments on board each one are different.
What has been your most memorable career highlight?
With the data we generate, we have contributed significantly to the success of various planetary flybys. This includes missions like BepiColombo, which recently completed its sixth Mercury flyby, JUICE, which last year performed the first ever Lunar-Earth flyby, and Hera, which earlier this month performed a flyby of Mars and carried out observations of its two moons, Deimos and Phobos.
The observations taken during these flybys not only serves to calibrate the instruments well in advance of the nominal science phase of each mission, saving extremely valuable mission resources, but they also provide unique data. Hera, for example, captured the first images ever seen of the far side of Deimos.
Do you have any tips for people trying to get jobs in your area of expertise?
I am an aerospace engineer, working mostly with spacecraft systems and astrodynamics. My training helps a lot with being able to support so many different missions.
How do you wind down?
I don’t do anything extravagant! I simply enjoy hanging out with my wife and dog or playing the electric guitar.