Nicolas Larrea

Nicolas Larrea has a diverse work experience in the field of spacecraft operations engineering and flight dynamics engineering.

Nicolas started their career at EUMETSAT in 2012 as an EPS Spacecraft and Ground Segment Controller. In this role, they were responsible for the operations of the Mission Control System of a Low Earth Orbit spacecraft. Nicolas provided 24/7 support to dual spacecraft operations and participated in the LEOP, Commissioning, and Routine phases of the mission. Nicolas also took necessary corrective actions in case of anomalies, applying established contingency procedures. Nicolas worked in this role until December 2014.

After that, they worked as a Flight Dynamics Engineer as a contractor at the European Space Operations Center, ESA. Their responsibilities included operating the Test and Validation Flight Dynamics System for various Earth observation and Interplanetary missions, such as Cluster-2, Cryosat, Swarm, Sentinel-1/2/3, and Rosetta. Nicolas also supported the Launch and Early Operations Phase and/or Commissioning of Aeolus, Metop-C, and Copernicus Missions. Nicolas also worked on software engineering and software maintenance of multi-mission and mission-specific Test and Validation Tools for Attitude Monitoring and Command Generation. Nicolas worked in this role until September 2022.

Most recently, they returned to EUMETSAT in 2019 as a CO2M Spacecraft Operations Engineer. Nicolas is currently involved in the operations of the CO2M Spacecraft. Prior to this, they were a Sentinel-6 Spacecraft Operations Engineer at EUMETSAT from June 2019 to September 2022.

Overall, Nicolas Larrea has gained extensive experience in spacecraft operations engineering and flight dynamics engineering, working with various missions and projects.

Nicolas Larrea completed an ERASMUS exchange program in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) at the Aerodynamisches Institut Aachen, RWTH Universität in 2011. Prior to that, they attended the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM from 2004 to 2011, where they earned a degree in Aerospace Engineering. Their studies at UPM focused on specialties such as Aerodynamics, Flight Dynamics, and Aircraft design. Additionally, they had an experience at the DLR German Space Operations Center (GSOC) at Oberpfaffenhofen, Munich, Germany, in the field of Spacecraft Operations, although the specific duration and degree attained are not provided.