Stephan Ulamec
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Stephan Ulamec is an
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
n
geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct investigations acros ...
, born in
Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...
on January 27, 1966, with more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals and several participations in space missions and payloads operated by diverse space agencies. He is working at the
German Aerospace Center The German Aerospace Center (, abbreviated DLR, literally ''German Center for Air- and Space-flight'') is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of Germany, founded in 1969. It is headquartered in Cologne with 3 ...
(''Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt'', DLR) in
Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
. He is regularly giving lectures about his publications in
aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...
at the University of Applied Sciences: Fachhochschule FH-Aachen. Main aspects of his work are related to the exploration of
small bodies Small means of insignificant size. Small may also refer to: Science and technology * SMALL, an ALGOL-like programming language * ''Small'' (journal), a nano-science publication * <small>, an HTML element that defines smaller text Arts and ...
in the
Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
(
asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...
s and comets).


Education

Ulamec studied
Geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and Physical property, properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct i ...
at the
Karl-Franzens University The University of Graz (, formerly: ''Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz'') is a public research university located in Graz, Austria. It is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-oldest university in A ...
in
Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...
(Austria) as student of Prof.
Siegfried J. Bauer Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace". The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...
. He finished his PhD on “''Acoustic and Electrical Methods for the Exploration of Atmospheres and Surfaces, with Application to Saturn's Moon Titan''” in 1991.


Career

From 1991 till 1993 he worked as a
research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...
at the
European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...
(ESA), specifically at
European Space Research and Technology Centre The European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) is the European Space Agency's main technology development and test centre for spacecraft and space technology. It is situated in Noordwijk, South Holland, in the western Netherlands, alth ...
(ESTEC) in
Noordwijk Noordwijk () is a town and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water and had a population of in . On 1 January 2019, the f ...
, in
The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. Since 1994, he is at the Microgravity User Support Center (MUSC) which is part of the DLR Space Operations and Astronaut Training (SOAT). He has made several presentations at the
International Astronautical Congress The International Astronautical Congress (IAC) is an annual meeting of the actors in the discipline of space science. It is hosted by one of the national society members of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), with the support of ...
(IAC).


Involvement in space missions


Mission to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Stephan Ulamec has been the project manager of the ''
Rosetta Rosetta ( ) or Rashid (, ; ) is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Rosetta Stone was discovered there in 1799. Founded around the 9th century on the site of the ancient town of Bolbitine, R ...
'' lander ''
Philae The Philae temple complex (; ,  , Egyptian: ''p3-jw-rķ' or 'pA-jw-rq''; , ) is an island-based temple complex in the reservoir of the Aswan Low Dam, downstream of the Aswan Dam and Lake Nasser, Egypt. Originally, the temple complex was ...
'', which successfully landed on
comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014.


Mission to (162173) Ryugu

He has also been
Payload Payload is the object or the entity that is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of t ...
Manager of
MASCOT A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...
, a lander made in common by the French space agency (
CNES CNES () is the French national space agency. Headquartered in central Paris, the agency is overseen by the ministries of the Armed Forces, Economy and Finance and Higher Education, Research and Innovation. It operates from the Toulouse Spac ...
) and the DLR, that has been delivered by the
JAXA The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into o ...
Hayabusa2 is an asteroid sample-return mission operated by the Japanese state space agency JAXA. It is a successor to the ''Hayabusa'' mission, which returned asteroid samples for the first time in June 2010. ''Hayabusa2'' was launched on 3 December 2 ...
spacecraft to asteroid
(162173) Ryugu 162173 Ryugu (provisional designation ) is a near-Earth object and also a potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group. It measures approximately in diameter and is a dark object of the rare spectral type Cb, with qualities of both a C-t ...
in 2018.


Mission to Phobos (Mars I)

He is one of two lead scientists (Co Principal Investigator) of the French-German MMX
rover Rover may refer to: People Name * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Stage name * Rover (musician), French singer-songw ...
called IDEFIX©, together with Dr
Patrick Michel Patrick Michel (born 25 February 1970 in Saint-Tropez, France) is a French planetary scientist, Senior Researcher at CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), member of the team TOP (Theories and Observations in Planetology) of the Frenc ...
. This rover is to be launched in 2026 by the Japanese Mars Moons eXploration (MMX), a
JAXA The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into o ...
(Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency) mission to the
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
natural satellite A natural satellite is, in the most common usage, an astronomical body that orbits a planet, dwarf planet, or small Solar System body (or sometimes another natural satellite). Natural satellites are colloquially referred to as moons, a deriv ...
Phobos.


Mission to (65803) Didymos

He is also part of the Science Management Board for the ESA
Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...
mission, to be launched in 2024 with a Space X
Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. The first Falcon 9 launch was on June 4, 2010, an ...
shuttle, aimed at operating a rendezvous and characterising in details the asteroid (65803) Didymos and its natural satellite
Dimorphos Dimorphos (formal designation (65803) Didymos I; provisional designation S/2003 (65803) 1) is a natural satellite or minor-planet moon, moon of the near-Earth object, near-Earth asteroid 65803 Didymos, with which it forms a Binary asteroid, bina ...
, and also analysing the artificial
impact Impact may refer to: * Impact (mechanics), a large force or mechanical shock over a short period of time * Impact, Texas, a town in Taylor County, Texas, US Science and technology * Impact crater, a meteor crater caused by an impact event * Imp ...
created by the American space agency
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
probe
DART Dart or DART may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Dart, the equipment in the game of darts * Dart (comics), an Image Comics superhero * Dart, a character from ''G.I. Joe'' * Dart, a ''Thomas & Friends'' railway engine character * Dart ...
in September 2022.


Involvement in other projects and working groups


NEO-MAPP

He is involved in NEO-MAPP, a
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
Horizon 2020 The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the Europe ...
project to study
mitigation Mitigation is the reduction of something harmful that has occurred or the reduction of its harmful effects. It may refer to measures taken to reduce the harmful effects of hazards that remain ''in potentia'', or to manage harmful incidents that ...
and
characterisation Characterization or characterisation is the representation of characters (persons, creatures, or other beings) in narrative and dramatic works. The term character development is sometimes used as a synonym. This representation may include dire ...
techniques for
potentially hazardous asteroids A potentially hazardous object (PHO) is a near-Earth object – either an asteroid or a comet – with an orbit that can make close approaches to the Earth and which is large enough to cause significant regional damage in the Impact event, event ...
.


SSEWG and SSAC

From January 2020 till December 2023, he is chairing the ESA Solar System and Exploration Working Group (SSEWG) and is a member of the Space Science Advisory Committee (SSAC).


Writings

*Raumsonde Rosetta ( ). *Handbuch der Raumfahrttechnik, chapter on Weltraumastronomie und Planetenmissionen ( ). *Spacecraft Operations, chapter on Lander Operations ().


Awards and honours

* Member of
International Academy of Astronautics The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is a Paris-based non-government association for the field of astronautics. It was founded in Stockholm, Sweden) on August 16, 1960, by Dr. Theodore von Kármán. It was recognised by the United Nation ...
(IAA). * Member of
European Geosciences Union The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is a non-profit international union in the fields of Earth, planetary, and space sciences whose vision is to "realise a sustainable and just future for humanity and for the planet". The organisation has headq ...
(EGU). * Asteroid (11818) Ulamec was named in his honour by the
International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...
(IAU). * Sir Arthur Clark Award, 2014. *
Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( ; ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German–American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and '' Allgemeine SS'', the leading figure in the development of ...
Ehrung (in German, ''honour'') by the
German Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics German Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics (DGLR; ) is a German aerospace society. It was founded in 1912 under the name of ''Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Flugtechnik'' (WGF). It is the second oldest technical and scientific society ...
(DGLR), 2015.


Representative publications

* * * * * * * * * *


References


Further reading


Related articles

*
Geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and Physical property, properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct i ...
* Near Earth Objects * Rovers *
Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...


Official agencies external links

* https://www.gov.uk/government/news/philae-finds-hard-ice-and-organic-molecules * https://www.esa.int/esatv/Videos/2014/09/Rosetta_Mission_Status/Stephan_Ulamec_Philae_Lander_Manager_DLR_ITV_in_German * https://www.esa.int/esatv/Videos/2014/11/Rosetta_wrap_up * https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2016/02/Philae_facing_eternal_hibernation * https://www.eso.org/public/archives/capjournals/pdf/capj_0019.pdf (''An Historic Encounter: Reviewing the Outreach around ESA’s Rosetta Mission'': pages 44 to 47)


Media coverage


Comet lander's scientific harvest may be its last: Philae has fallen silent after fragmentary messages

The return of Philae: Revived after hibernation, comet lander awaits orders
* (''in French'') https://www.sudouest.fr/sciences-et-technologie/mission-rosetta-il-est-temps-de-dire-au-revoir-a-philae-3689370.php * https://www.science.org/content/article/philae-s-scientific-harvest-may-be-its-last * * * https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/asteroid-ryugu-poses-landing-risks-for-japanese-mission/ * https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/apr/14/rise-and-shine-rosettas-philae-probe-could-be-awake-within-weeks * https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x30qpfs * https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/philae-lander-goes-to-sleep-after-sending-data-to-earth-1.2002692 * https://spacenews.com/esa-moves-two-missions-to-falcon-9/ * https://www.dlr.de/en/blog/archive/2024/we-didnt-just-land-once-we-landed-twice {{DEFAULTSORT:Ulamec, Stephan Geophysicists Astronomers 21st-century Austrian physicists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century Austrian geologists