Mr. Vassilis Charmandaris, Professor of Astrophysics at the Department of Physics of the University of Crete and Director of the Institute of Astrophysics of FORTH and the Skinakas Observatory has been selected as a member of the Space Science Advisory Committee of the European Space Agency (ESA) for a period of three years starting on January 2025.

The Space Science Advisory Committee (SSAC) is the senior advisory body to the Director of Science of ESA on all matters concerning space science included in the mandatory science programme of ESA. The Committee is the main interpreter of the views and needs of the European scientific community as regards access to space experimentation and data exploitation in the mandatory science programmes.

Professor Vassilis Charmandaris is the first Greek scientist to have ever been appointed to this advisory body.