- 2 Oct 2023: - I am co-author to a study published in Nature today: Nandakumar et al: The high optical brightness of the BlueWalker 3 satellite. An interview with more backgrounds is also available on our TU Delft website. I was also interviewed on the subject by the Radio program Nieuws en Co on Dutch national Radio channel NPO radio 1 (item starts at 00:34:35).
I am a multidisciplinary scientist and science educator. Originally trained as an archaeologist, I am currently a Lecturer in Space Situational Awareness at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering of Delft Technical University in the Netherlands.
My research topics include Military Space ("spy satellites"), Palaeolithic archaeology, meteorites, and asteroids.
I am a Dutch scientist with a PhD in Palaeolithic Archaeology (Leiden University 2003) but currently academically working in the field of Space Situational Awareness (satellites).
I am active in multiple fields of science, including asteroids (of which I discovered several) and meteorites. I track classified military satellites ("spy satellites"), analyse their behaviour, and blog about that on my SatTrackCam blog. My archaeological research has a focus on the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic, with a secondary interest in megaliths. In 2007, I received a VENI grant from the Dutch National Science Foundation (NWO) to study spatial behaviour and cognition of Neandertals.
I have previously worked as an academic researcher and consultant (archaeology, meteoritics and Space Situational Awareness) at Leiden University, the VU University Amsterdam and Naturalis Biodiversity Center (the Dutch National Museum of Natural History).
I am currently a Lecturer in optical Space Situational Awareness at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, section Astrodynamics and Space Missions of Delft Technical University, the Netherlands.
