Space Enthusiast

A Passion for Space

Space has been a driving force throughout my career. From building satellites as a student to working at the European Space Agency, I’ve had the privilege of contributing to humanity’s exploration beyond Earth.

MOVE-II CubeSat Mission

One of my proudest achievements is my work on the MOVE-II Nanosatellite at the Technical University of Munich (2016-2018).

My Role

As Lead Software Engineer and Systems Engineer, I:

• Defined the architecture, interfaces, and operational workflows for the entire CubeSat mission
• Led the onboard software and mission control development teams
• Developed automation tools and coordinated across multiple teams
• Mentored students (developers and mission controllers) and organized practical courses
• Managed infrastructure, software tools, and code repositories

The Mission

The MOVE-II CubeSat was successfully launched into low Earth orbit on December 3rd, 2018 and operated for almost 7 years before deorbiting on July 13th, 2025. This was an incredible achievement for a student-built satellite!

We developed the entire software stack using agile practices – something quite innovative for space applications at the time. The mission control software was built with modern technologies (Python, SpringBoot, Hibernate) while the onboard software ran on Linux.

Legacy and Impact

The MOVE-II project had lasting impact beyond the mission itself. As a spin-off from the project, OroraTech was founded – a company that now uses nanosatellites for wildfire detection and monitoring. It’s incredible to see how student projects and their members can evolve into companies making a real difference in protecting our planet.

Publications

Our work resulted in several publications:

• “First Flight Results of the MOVE-II Satellite” (AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites, 2019)
• “Agile Mission Operations in the CubeSat Project MOVE-II” (SpaceOps Conference, 2018)
• “Reliability Assessment of CubeSats through System Level Testing” (International Conference on CubeSat Technology, 2018)
• “Agile Software Development for Space Applications” (Deutscher Luft- und Raumfahrtkongress, 2017)

European Space Agency

From 2018 to 2020, I worked at the European Space Agency (ESA) in Noordwijk, Netherlands, as a Software Engineering Trainee (Young Graduate Trainee) in the Software Systems Division.

What I Did

• Worked on Mission Control Systems for space missions
• Optimized processes and developed tool support for project workflows
• Analyzed and visualized project data
• Coordinated with multiple industry partners across Europe
• Ensured software quality through code reviews
• Used technologies like Java, Groovy, Python, and Docker

Beyond Technical Work

I was also a Core Member of the Young Professionals Advisory Group at ESA, where I:

• Designed onboarding documentation and knowledge-sharing guides for early-career engineers
• Created a “Newcomer’s Guide” as a self-service resource for navigating ESA’s tools, teams, and policies
• Founded a working group to improve ESA’s environmental footprint

Master’s Thesis on Space Software Engineering

My master’s thesis focused on bringing modern software development practices to the space industry: “Definition of an Agile Software Development Process for the European Space Industry”. This work explored how agile methodologies could be adapted for the highly regulated and safety-critical space domain.

This research bridged my interests in software engineering and space technology, and sparked interest for my later research on developer productivity.

Why Space Matters to Me

Space represents humanity’s greatest adventure – pushing boundaries, solving impossible problems, and working together across nations. The technical challenges are immense, the stakes are high, and the impact is profound. Whether it’s Earth observation for climate monitoring, communication satellites connecting the world, or scientific missions expanding our understanding of the universe, space technology improves life on Earth.

Being part of this journey – from writing code that runs in orbit to working with international teams at ESA – has been an incredible privilege and continues to inspire my work today.