Program – Swapec

Program

Program Schedule

Chairman of the Day – Bram van Hemmen

Bram van Hemmen is a strategic advisor and former mayor with 25 years of experience in connecting technology, policy, and societal issues. Since his transition to the space sector, he has been advising, among others, the Netherlands Space Office (NSO) and supports municipalities and companies in applying satellite data and digital innovations. As a speaker, moderator, and trainer, Bram shares his vision on the societal value of space technology and the opportunities of satellite data as a new data layer in combination with AI for the public and private sector.

Doors open: 12:00 – 12:30
Event start: 12:30 – 13:00

Program Schedule

Speaker 1 – Patrick Bolder

13:00 – 13:30

HCSS

After graduating from the Royal Military Academy in Breda, Patrick studied to become a military meteorologist and served at Deelen airbase, Volkel airbase, Woensdrecht and in Münster, Germany explaining how the weather influences military operations in short term forecasts. After 12 years and following the Higher Staff and Command College, he changed to so-called Policy and Plans postings at the Defence staff and Airstaff alternating. During the next 28 years he was deployed twice for 6 months to the Palestinian Territories, linving in Ramallah and working in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Jericho. He also studied at the Nato Defence College in Rome for 6 months. His last posting was at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, where he worked on projects as Unmanned Systems, Security of the North Sea and Military Use of Space. After his military retirement he became a strategic advisor to HCSS and conducted numerous media appearances in radio and live tv-shows as Defence expert.

Speaker 2 – Maj. Petra Wijnja

13:30 – 14:00

RNLAF

Lieutenant-Colonel Petra Wijnja works as the Lead Space Concepts & Integration in the Defence Space Security Center – the space department of Defence under the Air Force.   She started her career in the Air Force in 1998 as a Fighter Controller, directing F16 aircraft during exercises and operations. In 2015 she applied to join the (then new) space department and has worked on integrating the space domain in the MoD operations and plans ever since, by coordinating partnerships, developing assets, drafting plans and educating personnel from both within and outside of the MoD.   She has a bachelor in Mathematics and a master degree in Space System and Business Engineering.

Speaker 3 – Dr. Marco Langbroek

14:00 – 14:30

TU Delft

Dr Marco Langbroek (1970) is Lecturer in Optical Space Situational Awareness at Delft Technical University, faculty of Aerospace Engineering. He is an expert in optical satellite tracking and military activities in space. He is part of an international group of independent space observers (ISO’s) that track ‘classified’ objects in space (colloquially: “spy satellites”) and over the past 20 years has been blogging about this on his blog (http://sattrackcam.blogspot.com). He is a main member of the FOTOS projects, in which an optical tracking capacity is being created for the Dutch Royal Air Force/Defense Space Security Center.

Break

14:30-15:00

Speaker 4 – Arnaud van Kleef

15:00 – 15:30

NLR

Arnaud van Kleef is a Principal R&D Engineer at Royal NLR and has been involved in various space-related research and projects for over 18 years. In this role, he connects multidisciplinary projects and (international) collaborations to get innovations off the ground for the NLR’s stakeholders, primarily the Ministry of Defence. As the program leader of NLR’s strategic program Future Air & Space Power (FASP), he, together with his team (and the Dutch industry where possible), provide solutions for a safe society. These solutions can help with the effective execution of defence tasks, increasing the operational readiness of personnel and equipment and improving resilience against new threats in the air and space domain.

Speaker 5 – Wim Korevaar

15:30 – 16:00

TNO

Wim Korevaar is technical lead in the Laser Satellite Communication program at TNO and working on the system design, standardization and modem developments of laser and quantum communication terminals, in particular for space applications. Besides his work at TNO, he works for 1 day per week at Eindhoven University of Technology to guide the long-term research for optical satcom. 

Panel Discussion

16:00 – 16:45

Xavier Maufroid European Commission

Xavier Maufroid has been working on the Galileo System implementation within the Galileo Programme Management unit of the European Commission since 2008, first as a responsible for the preparation and following-up of the Galileo space segment procurements and then leading the system implementation team. He also contributed to the deployment of the Search and Rescue service of Galileo and was the representative of the Commission to the international Cospas-Sarsat Programme for several years. Before joining the EU, he worked several years in the satellite telecommunication industry and in the European Space Agency. He holds an MSc degree in electrical engineering from the University of Louvain and a master in Space engineering from SUPAERO.

Jasper van Loon NSO

Jasper van Loon obtained a PhD degree from Delft University of Technology on the subject of gravity field modelling. Currently, he is the Director of Space Business within the Netherlands Space Office, the space agency of The Netherlands. His team support the Dutch space sector by managing the technology development programs and interact with ESA on the satcom roadmap and industrial policy.

Erik Laan University of Applied Sciences Delft

Erik Laan is a lecturer of Space Engineering at Inholland University of Applied Sciences in Delft, the Netherlands where he works with a team of Aeronautical & Precision Engineering BSc. students to design, build and test the 6U cubesat InhollandSat-1. Formerly, he worked as an entrepreneur for his own company Eye On Orbit where he provided consultancy to Aerospace companies and institutes. His technical background is in optical instrument satellite payloads for Earth Observation and Satellite Communication, with system engineering expertise in the field of space robotics and microgravity & in-situ exploration payloads. He features every 2 months in the BNR Space Cowboys Podcast who is also a proud SWAPEC 2025 media partner!

Sytze Kampen Airbus

Sytze Kampen is currently Head of Technology at Airbus Netherlands in Leiden. He graduated from the University of Delft (Electrical Engineering) in 1983 and started his career at the Space Division of Fokker where he worked on the control systems of scientific satellites such as BeppoSax, ISO and Herschel as well as on the European Robotic Arm for the ISS, until 1998. After a period as project manager at Ericsson Telecommunications he returned to Space technology as the head of TNO’s Space department in 2004. In 2010 he returned to Dutch Space, now Airbus Netherlands, as Head of Technology. In this role Sytze is now responsible for Airbus’ R&D programme in the Netherlands.

Networking Drinks

17:00 – 18:00