I'm Harald Luiks, Director of Spacecraft Integration & Testing at the Saudi Space Agency (SSA), where I lead a multidisciplinary team of engineers across systems engineering, AIT/AIV, mechanical, electrical, and mission design disciplines.
My career spans the full lifecycle of space missions — from early concurrent design and systems engineering through hardware integration, environmental testing, launch, and operations. I've worked in Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, and Saudi Arabia, contributing to missions ranging from CubeSats to deep-space rovers.
Highlights:
🛰 12 satellites in orbit
🚀 6 space propulsion projects managed
🤖 MMX rover mission — thermal testing of the first rover to land on Phobos
🌍 Space Debris Conference 2024 — Panel Moderator & Scientific Committee (ITU/UNOOSA)
I'm also a strong believer in open knowledge. I maintain a curated GitHub repository of space systems engineering resources — consolidating tools, references, and methodologies that are often scattered or hard to find, to help both new and experienced engineers do better work faster.
About Me
2025 – present | Director, Spacecraft Integration & Testing — Saudi Space Agency
Leading the Spacecraft Integration & Testing directorate at SSA. Responsible for end-to-end satellite AIT, verification, and mission readiness across agency programmes. Managing a multidisciplinary team and building long-term in-country engineering capability aligned with Saudi Vision 2030.
2023 – 2025 | Team Lead, Satellite Engineering — Saudi Space Agency
Systems Engineering Lead for multiple CubeSat missions in development. Led concurrent design sessions in the agency’s CDF. Managed specialists across systems, mechanical, electrical, AIT/AIV, and mission design. Moderated the closing panel of the International Space Debris Conference 2024 (ITU/UNOOSA partners).
2023 | Project Manager, Propulsion Systems — Dawn Aerospace
Project Manager for the CubeDrive product line. Assistant PM for a large SatDrive system (5000 Ns+) for a lunar mission programme. Maintained technical involvement in product development and systems engineering.
2021 – 2023 | Systems AIT/AIV Engineer — ISISPACE Group
Lead AIT/AIV Engineer for a Quantum Key Distribution CubeSat (RAL Space) and the ESA CubeSatCarrier IOD/IOV mission. Supporting engineer for a commercial ship-tracking constellation. Designed EGSE/MGSE and developed test software. Portfolio →
2019 – 2020 | Graduate Researcher — German Aerospace Center (DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen
Thermal testing research for the MMX rover locomotion system. Developed testing requirements and methods, validated the system under simulated Phobos conditions, and designed the test setup. Presented at an ESA workshop. Mission status: delayed beyond original 2024 date; currently under review by JAXA/CNES/DLR. Portfolio →
2018 – 2020 | Independent Consultant — HaralDev
Technical consulting for SMEs and startups during MSc studies. Feasibility studies, systems engineering support, and software development (Python, Django, AWS). Portfolio →
