richard francis

Richard Francis received the B.Sc. degree in physics and the Ph.D. degree in space physics from the University of Sheffield, Sheffield, England, in 1974 and 1979, respectively. He worked six years in industry on spacecraft feasibility studies and algorithm development for Nimbus 7’s SMMR and SeaSat’s altimeter. In 1983, he took a post in the ERS-1 Team at ESA/ESTEC Noordwijk, The Netherlands. He spent more than 30 years at ESA working on a variety of missions, all except one of which carried a radar altimeter. He progressed from an Altimeter System Engineer through a Mission and System Engineer and finally the Project Manager for his last two missions. After retirement in 2015, he has continued to participate in the development of ESA’s missions.