AdCoelum Space Research and Consulting LLC
AdCoelum was founded in 2021 and owned by five scientists working at ELTE Eötvös Loránd University in the field of astrophysics and space science. Individually and collectively the founders have extensive academic experience in the three fields most relevant for space safety.
Avoiding collisions with natural or man-made objects is a key aspect of space safety, implying advanced knowledge in orbital dynamics and capabilities in orbit determination and maneuver design. The Department of Astronomy at ELTE has a long, internationally acknowledged tradition in orbital dynamics. AdCoelum managing director Dr Zsolt Sándor is an associate professor now acting as the head of the planetary dynamics and planet formation research group at the Department Astronomy, a position he has taken over from distinguished professor Bálint Érdi, known for his work on the restricted three- and four-body problems. Another member of this group is AdCoelum co-founder Dr Áron Süli. Dr Sándor and Dr Süli have extensive expertise in dynamical calculations and have at their disposal a diversity of software capable of fast and effective computation of the orbits of small solar system objects or space debris.
Space weather awareness and forecasting capability is another key area of space safety. The current head of the Department of Astronomy at ELTE, AdCoelum co-founder Prof. Kristóf Petrovay is an internationally established expert in this field and the leader of the Solar origins of space weather and space climate research group. Prof. Petrovay’s own work focuses on dynamo theory and the forecasting and terrestrial effects of space climate, while other members of the research group, including AdCoelum co-founder Dr Emese Forgács-Dajka, specialize on issues related to the short-term prediction of solar eruptions. The immense background knowledge of the group members place them in an optimal position to assess the needs and potentialities of a successful Hungarian contribution to the space weather aspects of space safety efforts.
Finally, the third tenet of space safety is the safety of communication, with a view to reducing the incidence and severity of Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) events. The fifth co-founder of AdCoelum, Dr Krisztina Gabányi is an expert in radio astronomy with extensive knowledge of radio wave propagation and of potential interference sources in the different regimes of the radio frequency domain.