Dr. Ortega holds a PhD CUM LAUDE in Physics in the branch of Automatics and Informatics by the University of Madrid in Spain.Dr. Ortega is currently the Head of the Guidance, Navigation, and Control Section of the European Space Agency. He is in charge of the space engineering activities in the GNC area in ESA. His job is to design and implement GNC systems for space vehicles including interplanetary cruise, aero assistance, precision landing, ascent, rendezvous and docking, re-entry, formation flying and drag- free systems.