ESR12 - Tomasz Rajkowski
Short biography
Tomasz Rajkowski graduated from Technical University of Warsaw and has worked for 7 years at the Space Research Center of Polish Academy of Sciences. He's been a Test Engineer in the BRITE-PL project which succesfully accomplished the launch of the two first polish scientific satellites. He's also been Hardware Designer and Project Manager for the ESA OPS-SAT mission, which aims at building the first CubeSat of the European Space Agency.
Why did you apply for a RADSAGA position?
From the very beginning of my professional experience in aerospace industry I was interested in radiation effects to electronics. My Master's Thesis was related to simulation and analysis of SEU-induced errors in soft-CPU of FPGA. For the purpose of ESA OPS-SAT project, I conducted TID tests of few components in Co-60 facility at ESA/ESTEC as well as TID tests of satellite subsystems, which I designed, by means of a gamma rays accelerator at the National Centre for Nuclear Research (Swierk, Poland). I'm aware that many failures of satellites in orbit are due to lack of radiation characteristics of components/subsystems/systems or wrong design approach. On the other hand, I also experienced that too conservative approaches may generate additional avoidable costs. Finding adequate solutions for dealing with radiation effects in electronics seems to be both interesting and challenging. That's why I was looking for possibilities of improving my competencies by doing research in the area of radiation effects and I found that RADSAGA was perfectly suited for my aspirations. This network also gives me the opportunity to work with professionals in radiation effects to electronics.
What are your future goals? How will RADSAGA help you fulfill them?
I'd like to continue my research to make radiation effects on electronics better understood and to make space more accessible. I'd also like to share my knowledge while working at the University. RADSAGA gives me the possibility to cooperate with the best European professionals, access to many laboratories and test facilities. It also places me inside a team of 15 young enthusiasts who wish to inspire each other to make the best of their ESR experience. I believe this will strongly enhance my research skills.