This month’s RBC Signals team member spotlight is on Dr. Belen Andres. Belen oversees global sales engineering for RBC Signals.
Whether under the sea or in space, Belen Andres is always looking to explore the next frontier. Belen was born in the north of Spain and raised in Madrid. For Belen, a love of nature and landscapes has led to many adventures related to both sea and space.
Belen’s role for RBC Signals involves consulting with customers in order to better understand their technical and business needs. She discusses things like the operation of their constellation and satellites. Belen believes that “helping a customer is about more than just discussing which antenna is right for them. It’s about finding the best solution that helps them meet both their business and finance goals. It’s more than just buying a ground station”.
Belen comes to RBC Signals by way of an interest in electromagnetics and physics during her master’s degree research. It was here she discovered the applications of electromagnetics and antennas. It was then that she decided to switch her masters to electromagnetism with a thesis on using a very high density of antennas with very high frequency. She went on to pursue a PhD in applications for the terahertz range, more specifically the simulation of the human eye in the reception of data from an antenna. She explored how the human eye uses cones and rods in the retina to receive information and the similarities in how satellite antennas receive and process information. Her PhD work eventually led to work in areas like radio astronomy, collaborating with organizations such as the Max Plank institute and spending nine months at the University of California San Diego.
After obtaining her PhD, Belen began working at Deimos, a Spanish Earth observation company, as a spacecraft communications engineer for their Deimos 2 satellite. At that time, Deimos was truly a startup. After helping get Deimos 2 to nominal operations, Belen left to join Rocket Lab as Lead RF engineer, moving to New Zealand for three years.
Belen working on the assembly and integration test of Deimos-2 in 2013
When Belen is not focused on what’s happening in space, she’s got her sights set here on Earth, on another less explored frontier – the ocean. Belen turned her passion in diving into a more technical interest with deeper dives and cave diving which has helped her fulfill her love of nature. Along the way, she discovered amazing formations within the caves in places that most have never visited. Belen says “there is a cave in Spain where more people have visited the Moon then have visited this cave.” She says there are additional connections between Earth and space. “Lots of astronauts train in caves, and by analyzing caves, you can better understand their components and origins of formations on other planets.”
Belen diving in a cave in Litjaaga, Norway in 2019