Skip to content
Home > about > Dr Nick Waltham, FRe…

Dr Nick Waltham, FReng
Camera Systems Programme Lead

Email address:

Man smiling in front of a red backdrop.
Nick Waltham, Research, Technology and Innovation Lead

Leading Technology, Research and Innovation at RAL Space, Nick’s team specialises in the system design, research and development, engineering, manufacture and test of bespoke electro-optics instrumentation.

Nick has more than 35 years of experience in the development of scientific CCD camera systems​ for space science, Earth observation, planetary exploration and ground-based astronomy.

Nick is a physicist by training, but made a career as a technologist, specialising in CCD sensors and electronics. He was awarded his doctorate from the University of Durham for the development of CCD astronomical instrumentation and spent six years at the Royal Greenwich Observatory before transferring to RAL’s Space Science Department in 1989.

Nick is a Research Council Individual Merit Technologist, meaning that he has been recognised for the outstanding personal contribution to his field and was also elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2013. ​

Camera Systems Programme

Nick leads the Camera Systems Programme at RAL Space. For more than two decades, the programme has designed, developed, and delivered space‑qualified CCD and CMOS imaging systems for leading international space missions. This heritage has been established through the continuous development of cameras for missions including NASA’s STEREO, SDO, IRIS, and PUNCH; ESA’s Solar Orbiter; NOAA’s GOES‑16, ‑17, ‑18, and ‑19 satellites for meteorology and space weather monitoring; and ESA’s ExoMars Raman spectrometer. The programme applies new technologies and design innovations to future missions, enabling both curiosity‑driven space science and exploration and a deeper understanding of space weather and its impact on society.

Lear more
Team member