
13 March 2024
Meet our researchers: René Laufer is aiming for the moon
"Kiruna is a unique place when it comes to space, well known in the international space community. It’s a very vibrant and exciting place with many things going on in one location."
What is your research about?
"I am conducting research in the field of small satellite missions. We are working to build small satellites in innovative ways – often with partners – and try to come up with new creative ideas for small satellite missions: especially using so called cubesat satellites."
What makes your field so interesting?
"Small satellites are wonderful tools. They give you the opportunity to conduct missions that you wouldn’t do with large satellites for example. Small satellites, that even space agencies build nowadays, provide the opportunity to send scientific instruments out into space at low cost and launching rather quickly, which means that more companies and even small organisations can do it."
What is your dream as a researcher?
"I would like Luleå University of Technology not only building satellites that go into low Earth orbit, but also that we, together with partners, are part of a satellite mission that goes to the Moon. Very few universities have done that yet."
About René
Name: René Laufer
Does: Professor and Head of subject of Space systems at Luleå University of Technology
Comes from: Berlin, Germany
Lives: Kiruna.
Why Luleå University of Technology: Kiruna is a unique place when it comes to space, well known in the international space community. It’s a very vibrant and exciting place with many things going on in one location: a rocket launch site (soon also for launching satellites), a space university, a national space research institute, local space industry, and international space groups within less than one hour driving-time. That is not very common – there are only two, maybe three such locations in the world.
I like it here: On the roof of our space campus in Kiruna. It is the perfect spot to watch rocket launches and to see auroras. We are surrounded by forest, so it’s quite dark there. In the summer the view is beautifully green and in winter it’s beautifully white.
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