Chris began his career in 1985 as an analytical chemist. By 1991, as Senior Chemist, he then managed laboratories and firing sites, going on to lead test campaigns qualifying rocket engines until 1997, when he moved from component to subsystem level partaking in many test and launch campaigns to various facilities globally. In 2007 he founded EAL and is currently Test/Managing Director overseeing all launch campaign operations and chemistry/compatibility contracts. He has presented a number of papers at conference on chemistry and test issues from 1988 to the present.
Jonathan Heirons
Head of Propulsion Test & Launch Services
Jonathan leads the planning, execution and growth of the propulsion test teams at European Astrotech Ltd. Since joining in 2017, Jonathan has completed over 20 launch campaigns supporting over 34 satellites to orbit. Jonathan is the technical lead for propellant loading operations, environmental testing and hazardous testing of spacecraft propulsion systems, providing engineering expertise to support successful mission outcomes.
Brad White
Propulsion Test Engineer
Brad works at EAL as one of the propulsion test engineers, and is responsible for the management of the ground support equipment and the calibration of instrumentation required for testing and launch site services. Brad also supports test campaigns in B-Site, assisting in the running and maintenance, along with the recommissioning of the bays. He has performed simulant loading activities at ESTEC and in the UK.
Brad has completed SCAPE training and is a key member in the launch campaign team. He has led multiple SCAPE sessions and has been a part of many successful launch campaigns in French Guiana and the US, and led his first campaign, Galileo L14.
Oliver Graham
Propulsion Test Engineer
Ollie works at EAL as one of the propulsion test engineers while also studying towards his Bachelors in Engineering (BEng) with The Open Univeristy. He is responsible for the managing of ground support equipment, the recommisioning of the B-site test facility and supporting test and launch camapigns.
Ollie has completed SCAPE training and is a key member of test and launch campaign teams. He has completed numerous SCAPE sessions for both mono- and bi-propellant loading sessions and has been a part of many successful campaigns in French Guiana and the US including ESA's Galileo programme.
Dale Lockett
Senior Propellant Chemist
Dale's background is a MSc in analytical chemisty, and primarily works in the chemistry department at EAL, responsible for the laboratory, analysis, and compatibility testing of materials with propellants. He has participated in launch campaigns as a SCAPE operative as well as preparing the ground support equipment for fuelling operations.
Dale has participated in numerous loading operations in French Guiana, Cape Canaveral, and Vandenberg covering mono- and bi-propellant propulsion systems such as ESA's Galileo and HERA.
Ben Paran-Rutterford
Propellant Chemist
Ben's background is a MChem in chemistry and primarily assists in the running of the chemistry lab at EAL, performing propellant analysis, material compatibility tests, lab maintenance and surface treatment.
Ben has completed SCAPE training and is a key member of launch campaign teams. He has completed multiple SCAPE sessions and has been a part of many successful campaigns in French Guiana and the US including ESA's Galileo programme.
Viktoria Ellmies
Graduate Propellant Chemist
Viktoria completed her Master’s in Planetary Science at Cambridge, following a BSc in Chemistry, and previously worked on research in Astrochemistry. She assists in the running of the chemistry lab at EAL, performing propellant analysis, lab maintenance and surface treatment. She also contributes to the preparation of fuelling ground support equipment to support EAL's fuelling operations.
Roman Gordon
Graduate Test Engineer
Roman has completed a Master's in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Bristol, having conducted research into monitoring of composite manufacturing processes. He now works as a Graduate Test Engineer, writing data acquisition software to support subsystem testing, as well as helping to maintain ground support equipment and supporting lab activities.
