Volker Liebig

Volker Liebig began his professional career in polar research and took part in the German Antarctic Expedition, Ganovex IV, where he investigated Earth’s geomagnetic field. After six years working in managerial positions in the space industry, in 1994 he joined the German Space Agency, DARA.

During his career with DARA he was Head of the Earth Observation Utilisation Programme and then appointed Head of Application Programmes where he was responsible for communications, navigation and Earth observation. In 2000, the Senate of the German Aerospace Centre, DLR, approved his appointment as the Programme Director of the German Space Programme.

In 1993 Volker Liebig became a member of ESA’s Programme Board for Earth Observation, a post he held until 1998. For four years he was also a member of the ESA Council as well as a member of the Space Advisory Group of the European Commission. In 1999 he commenced lecturing at the University of Stuttgart.

When asked about his new position Volker Liebig said, "Earth observation has matured from being a scientific tool into an operational instrument to implement national and European policies. The main challenge for my directorate is to continue with the highly successful Earth science programme and bring the results and developments into operational applications. The set-up of GMES, the European system for Global Monitoring of Environment and Security will give this chance."  
 
Last update: 10 June 2008