Dr. Nicolas Thomas

Biography

Nicolas Thomas has spent the past 40 years working on topics related to space-borne remote sensing, focusing on solar system objects such as Mars, Mercury, comets, asteroids, and the Galilean moons of Jupiter. He earned his MSc in experimental space physics from the University of Leicester before completing his PhD at the University of York, where his research centered on the Galilean moon, Io. Thomas has been associated with significant missions, including the Giotto mission to comet Halley while working at the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy in Germany, and later missions at the European Space Agency's ESTEC. In 1992, he returned to the Max Planck Institute to work on the Rosetta mission, then took a full professorship at the University of Bern. His research interests mainly involve the utilization of optical wavelengths, including visible cameras and near-infrared active systems like laser altimeters, for interplanetary missions. He is currently collaborating with colleague Antoine Pommerol to develop a new imaging system for Mars and is exploring new techniques in the terahertz frequency range.

Research Interests