Bernard Foing

About

Prof. Bernard H. FOING is CEO/founder of LUNEX, manager of EuroMoonMars & Earth Space Innovation programme since 2010, partner of EU EIT EuroSpaceHub consortium, president of Space Renaissance International since 2021, executive director of ILEWG International Lunar Exploration Working Group since 2002, full member of IAA International academy of astronautics since 2010, founder of MVA MoonVillage Association, founder of SGAC Space Generation Advisory Council in Vienna 1999. Guest research prof & Lecturer at Leiden Observatory, VU Amsterdam, EPFL Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne, ISU International Space University, Riga Latvia University. He is vice-chair of COSPAR Commission B (Moon, planets and small bodies) and PEX Exploration panel, chair of IAF ITACCUS committee on Socio-Cultural Utilisation of Space, and member of IAF committees (Astronomy, space habitats, exploration, traffic management). Former President of ESTEC staff committee (2012-2017), senior advisor to ESA director General and former Chief scientist ESA ESTEC (2002-2018). He has worked at ESA Space Science Department at ESTEC (1989-2020) , as visiting scientist, staff scientist, study scientist (SIMURIS, MORO lunar orbiter, EuroMoon lander), Research Unit Coordinator, Project scientist of SMART-1 (first European mission to the Moon, launched in 2003), Head of Research Division, and Chief scientist. He has been active at ILEWG (International Lunar Exploration Working Group) as president (1998-2000), and initiator of ILEWG MoonVillage initiative since 2000. He has been Co-Investigator of space projects such as SOHO, XMM, BIOPAN, SMART-1, Mars Express, COROT, ISS/Expose. He has published over 910 articles, including 230 refereed papers, in space science and technology, lunar and planetary exploration, solar/stellar physics, complex organics in space, astrobiology, instrumentation. He edited 16 books and organized over 75 international conferences and symposia. His most cited papers include the discovery of fullerene C60+ and diffuse bands in space, CoRoT-7b: the first super-Earth with measured radius, Tropical glaciation on Mars, multisite continuous spectroscopy of stars.
Born in France, he was admitted at Ecole Normale Supérieure of Education & Technology, and became Professor Agrégé of Physical sciences. He obtained a PhD on Astrophysics and Space Techniques using a sounding rocket ultraviolet camera experiment at CNRS, with research stays in the US (Lockheed, SacPeak, Boulder, Harvard). He worked 3 years in Chile as astronomer for ESO European Southern Observatory, the French embassy, and as Professor of Astrophysics. Permanent researcher at CNRS Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, he obtained the Habilitation for direction of research in 1990.
space,
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_fTVp0kAAAAJ&hl=en
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Foing
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/p_=0&q=%20author%3A%22Foing%2C%20B.%22&sort=citation_count%20desc%2C%20bibcode%20desc

Employment

• University of Latvia ERA chair of Space Photonics
  2025 - Present
• Leiden University

Education

Education history is unavailable.

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications

Publications are unavailable.