Our Team

ESA/ ESOC

Dr. -Ing. Holger Krag graduated from the Technical University of Braunschweig with a degree in mechanical engineering, specializing in aerospace engineering. After several years of research and development on space debris distribution models at the Institute of Aerospace Systems, he completed his PhD thesis "A method for the Validation of Space Debris Models and for the Analysis and Planning for Radar and Optical Surveys" in 2003.

He worked as a systems engineer at Thales ATM (Air Traffic Management GmbH) on the development of the European Galileo ground mission segment. His main task was the development of a validation platform for this segment. As part of the multinational core team he was stationed in Toulouse for 2 years.

In 2006 he joined the European Space Operations Centre (ESA/ ESOC) in Darmstadt as a space debris specialist. There he worked on the development of an operational collision avoidance system, risk models and a space surveillance system. In 2014, he became Head of the Space Residue Bureau. Since then he has represented ESA in the IADC (Inter-Agency Debris Coordination Committee), an association of 13 space agencies, to deal with the problem of space debris. He also led some development for the European Space Surveillance Programme. In 2019 he became head of this program, which also included activities in the field of space weather and an early warning and defense system against asteroid threats.