Robin Aschan

I’m a Payload Engineer at Kuva Space, and my work has been all about the camera. I spend a lot of time in the cleanroom building, focusing, and eventually, calibrating camera systems, from gluing lenses, assembling filters and sensors to focusing the cameras in the calibration lab. In the lab, we optimize the camera so the images come out sharp. I also work on testing how the camera separates different colors and how it behaves under different light levels, from bright daytime conditions to much darker ones.

What I enjoy most about working here is the variety of tasks. I get to do hands-on work, like screwing, gluing, and putting pieces together a bit like a Lego set, and if something is missing, we can even 3D print parts ourselves. I also get to figure out camera image quality by analysing all the different parts of the image.

It’s also exciting to work in the space industry, especially since I’m personally interested in larger space telescopes that study black holes and galaxies. I really enjoy the teamwork here too. You get better results when different perspectives and opinions come together, and the work stays interesting because it’s so varied and there’s always something new to learn.

Outside of work, I enjoy creative work (currently wood carving), reading and listening to books, and weightlifting. I like seeing steady progress there too.