Meet
The
Team
Co-Founder
Sebastian Klaus
Chief Executive Officer
Sebastian Klaus holds a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering with a focus on atmospheric re-entry and reusable rocket engines. He has more than a decade of leadership experience as a military officer, supplemented by business knowledge from an MBA program at ESB Business School Reutlingen. Sebastian has developed and submitted several patented technologies for entry and descent. With a commercial pilot license and unique knowledge about parachute systems, as well as passion for nature and spaceflight, he is determined to overcome existing and future challenges in life sciences research in space in order to benefit all of humanity.
Co-Founder
Marta Oliveira
Chief Operations Officer
Marta is an aerospace engineer with experience spanning across physics, mission design and operations. She has been involved in various projects led by space agencies, starting as an intern at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, later joining the European Space Agency (ESA) and the French Space Agency (CNES). In Kourou, at the European Spaceport, she was a launcher safety engineer (ISLA) for Ariane 5 launch campaigns. In 2020, she was selected by Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe in the areas of Manufacturing and Industry. She holds a double MSc degree in Aerospace Engineering and Space Studies (Instituto Superior Técnico/International Space University).
Co-Founder
Jeffrey Hendrikse
Chief Technical Officer
Jeff has extensive experience as operations manager on numerous missions and projects for the European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus. His career path led him to be part of the ATV-1 the ‘Jules-Verne’ resupply vessel for the International Space Station (ISS), Herschel Space Telescope to study the composition and behavior of interstellar matter and stardust. He continued on both MetOp B and C, part of a set that provides long term datasets for climate observations. He went on as AIT/AIV Manager for MASCOT Asteroid Lander flying on the JAXA’s Hayabusa-II, a mission to investigate in situ-, collect- and return- samples from the asteroid Ryugu to earth. Before joining ATMOS Jeff supported the start of the intergration phase up to the first TVAC of ESA’s JUICE mission to Jupiter’s Moons.
His experience in the space industry spans over two decades back to 1996, where he joined ESA’s TEAMSAT/YES project launched on Ariane 502 before being an undergraduate researcher at Delft University of Technology in the Optics Section. He completed his B.Sc. in Applied Physics shortly before he returned to ESA as a Young Graduate on a neurosensory research device for astronauts and joined the Nuclear Physics institute at the Delft University of Technology as a research assistant. He continued his career working on the aforementioned 7 flight missions, which included 5 launch campaigns with 3 different launchers. Furthermore he supported 8 study groups for new satellite designs while keeping active with his general interests in science and engineering.
Co-Founder
Christian Grimm
Lead Systems Engineer
Chris has a passion for NewSpace and is an advocate for New Leadership and Agile developments from breadboard to launch! A mindset gained as an aerospace engineer with 12+ years of experience in the design, development and manufacture of space technologies. He is a former test engineer, manager and researcher at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Bremen, where he was also deputy head for the Department of Landing and Exploration Technologies. Prior to that, Chris was a core member of the MASCOT/Hayabusa-II asteroid mission in the role of AIT/AIV Lead, responsible for the integration of the lander as well as its fast paced and agile test program. He continued this life-changing experience into a study of Asteroids, their unique microgravity environment and the use of crushable impact absorbers for small body landing systems. In addition, Chris contributed his expertise to multiple successful space projects including the SpaceIL Lunar Lander Beresheet, the MMX Phobos Rover IDEFIX, the Emirates Lunar Rover Rashid, and the Reusable Launcher Demonstrator CALLISTO. He holds a double MSc degree in Space Science and Technology from Luleå University of Technology, and Astronautics and Space Engineering from Cranfield University. And a few months ago, Chris also successfully completed his doctoral research in Production Engineering from the University of Bremen.
Fabrice Testa
Advisor
Fabrice Testa is entrepreneur, business angel and economic mentor to Sebastian Klaus. His references include Harvard University, MIT, Singularity University and extensive experience in founding, growing and mentoring technology startups. Currently, he is Co-Founder and CFO at Maana Electric, Senator in the World Business Angels Investment Forum, representing Luxembourg, as well as Space Chairman in the European Business Angel Network.
Dr. Georg Herdrich
Advisor
Dr. Georg Herdrich is Head Atmospheric Entry Technology and Electric Propulsion at the Institute of Space Systems (IRS), University of Stuttgart as well as Deputy Head Department of Space Transportation. His experience in atmospheric re-entry includes X-38, Hayabusa, STARDUST, SHEFEX 2 as well as numerous research and development projects. Dr. Herdrich is also working as a national expert for the United Nations Committee of the Peaceful Use of Outer Space.
Big Impact
with a small
footprint
ATMOS Space Cargo is looking for world-class talent ready to take on challenging projects