Jörn Tjaden

Jörn Tjaden is chief of the European Space Agency bureau in Korou, French Guiana. The small South American country, a department of France, is home to Europe’s Spaceport and the launch site for all French satellites.

From 2003 until its dissolution, Tjaden headed the technical division of the Galileo Joint Undertaking, where he was responsible for mission requirements and implementation of EGNOS and Galileo and for the implementation of international cooperation projects.

He joined the European Space Agency in 2000, first as head of of the Navigation Mission and Programme Co-ordination Division in Brussels and eventually as head of the Galileo interim support structure.

In the late 1990s, he was responsible for telecom, navigation, and earth observation programs of the German Space Agency (DLR).

During the 1980s and 1990s, he worked for the German Research and Development Institute for Air and Space Travel (DFVLR) and was responsible for the German launch campaign in Korou. He was coordinator of space activities for the head of DLR.

Tjaden is a German citizen and a native of Düsseldorf. He earned his diploma degree in electrical engineering from the University of Bochum