Profile

I live with my Partner in a small town called Voorhout close to the ESA European Space and Technology Centre in Noordwijk in the Netherlands, where I have been working since 2000.

We have a small Poodle called ‘Aussie’ who likes to chase cats and can stand up on his back legs looking for them.

I started work in the Space Industry directly from school as an Apprentice at British Aerospace in Stevenage (where the ExoMars Rover has recently been built) and during that time discovered Mechanism Engineering (the motors and bearings and sensors that allow things to move and unfold on satellites) which became my career.

Back in 2001, just after I started work at ESA, I was lucky enough to become involved with the Beagle 2 lander project as the Mechanism Engineer, which started my interest in Mars Missions. Since 2008 I have been the Mechanical & Mechanisms Systems Engineer for the ExoMars Rover where I have been following the development of the Drill and Sample Handling Mechanisms on the Rover as well as the Camera Mast and the Rover Structure, which we call the Bathtub because of it’s shape.

My typical Day has changed as the Rover has progressed through it’s development

My typical Day has changed as the Rover has progressed through it’s development

Currently, as the Rover is in Test, I begin by looking at e-mails to see if any problems have come up in the day before. Then we have a short daily briefing from Toulouse on the Status of the Rover.

Once these are activities are completed, then I either finish dealing with all other e-mails or join other meetings discussing specific problems (or Non-conformances as we call them) that need to be discussed and the work agreed. At our level, we are busy closing the contracts for all the equipment delivered for assembly into the Rover and this means checking that all the Testing is properly documented/written-up such that we can make sure that all the requirements that we placed in the beginning have been properly taken into account in the design and test of the equipment.

From next week, I will be in Toulouse following the Rover Testing and Camera Alignment Measurement activities and therefore will be fully involved in the daily activities around the Rover

We are also busy preparing the Requirements documents for the next Rover Project.

Previously, my daily work involved reviewing the work performed by the contractors and providing technical input and expertise to the contractors where necessary.