Prof. Dr. Michael Rast

With a Diploma in geology and geo-scientific remote sensing at the Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Michael Rast joined ESA – ESTEC in the Netherlands, mainly establishing mission/science requirements for Earth observation satellites. Following a research year at NASA’s JPL in Pasadena, he obtained a doctorate on imaging spectroscopy for Earth observation from space. After a secondment to the GEO Secretariat, Geneva, as Senior Programme Officer, he headed the Science Strategy Office at ESA’s Earth Observation Centre ESRIN in Frascati, Italy. In 2017, he became Senior Advisor to the Director of Earth Observation Programmes, still fulfilling the role as Mission Scientist for the hyperspectral Copernicus mission, CHIME. In January 2022, following his retirement from ESA, he took on a part-time employment as Director of Earth Sciences at the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern, Switzerland. He also holds a professorship for terrestrial remote sensing at the Department for Geography of the Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich.