Jean-François Goester (CNES)
After graduating from the French aeronautical engineering school SupAéro in 1987, Jean-François Goester began their career at CNES (the French Space Agency) in 1988 as a flight dynamics engineer. Initially assigned to the Hermes project, he focused on re-entry trajectories and the selection of landing sites. During this early phase of his career, he was also involved in operations related to the natural re-entry of the Russian satellite COSMOS-1900.
Between 1992 and 1998, Jean-François contributed to re-entry trajectory analyses within the context of the ESA CTV/CRV and NASA X-38 programs. Concurrently, from 1994 to 1998, he led the development and operational management of the Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator Flight Monitoring Center, playing a key role in the successful execution of the mission in October 1998.
Up until 2002, he was responsible for all flight dynamics aspects at the ATV Control Center. His expertise was also instrumental in several Franco-Russian missions focused on re-entry and rendezvous phases, such as PEGASE and PERSEUS. Notably, he served as the main CNES point of contact for flight dynamics during the MIR de-orbit operations in 2001 and directed the de-orbit maneuver strategy for the ASTRA-1K satellite in 2002.
From 2002 to 2016, he headed the Orbital Maneuvers Office, overseeing maneuver strategies for numerous high-profile missions, including the five ATV flights and the ROSETTA mission. Within this role, he also became responsible, starting in 2007, for the development of the FSOA ELECTRA tool.
Since 2016, he has served as a senior expert within the CNES Flight Dynamics and Operations sub-directorate, focusing on re-entry and rendezvous operations, as well as the distribution of CNES-developed flight dynamics software tools. In parallel, he has been dedicated to education, providing training courses in ISAE-SUPAERO and other institutions for over 30 years.
Stefan Winkler (Airbus DS)
Stefan holds a diploma and doctor's degree in aerospace engineering. He is Senior Expert in "Spacecraft Autonomy, Navigation & Control" at Airbus and he is honorary professor at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering and Geodesy of the University of Stuttgart.
Prof. Winkler stands for what he frequently calls "the greatest of all systems" on board spacecraft and aircraft, the Guidance, Navigation & Control (GNC) system. Being a pioneer of small autonomous UAVs, he developed the navigation algorithms for what was labeled „The World’s Smallest Integrated Navigation System“ by the US Inside GNSS magazine.
Since ~20 years he is a member of Airbus’ transnational AOCS/GNC & Flight Dynamics division in the heart of spacecraft development. His expertise covers all phases from pen-and-paper to in-flight validation, his AOCS/GNC solutions fly on many current and future Airbus spacecraft. He supports and advises teams and projects, his recommendations make the difference. An important concern for him is to strengthen the loop between research and industry for the benefit of both.
