Holger Krag

European Space Agency (ESA)Head of Space Debris Office

Holger Krag acquired his master in aerospace engineering at the University of Braunschweig, followed by a 4-year research period at the Institute of Aerospace System where he focussed on space debris modelling and surveillance, which also became the topic of his PhD (2003). He is today the Head of the Space Safety Programme in the Directorate of Operations, ESA-ESOC, in Darmstadt, Germany. He joined ESA as an Analysist in the Space Debris Office. He worked on establishing risk models and an operational collision avoidance system and contributed to first space surveillance studies. In 2014, he took the position of the Head of the Space Debris Office, which, among others, provided fundamental support to ESA’s Space Situational Awareness Programme. In 2019, he took over the position as the head of the programme and prepared the evolution into the new Space Safety Programme which was established at the Space19+ Ministerial. His current duties comprise the implementation of the Programme, in close coordination with participating States, managing the resources delegated to the Programme Office, including staff, budgets, industrial contracts and legal agreements in the areas of Space Weather, Space Debris, Planetary Defence, Cleanspace and Frequency Management, and ESA representation on debris matters at relevant international bodies (IADC, UNCOPUOS,…).

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