Mark Bentum

Mark Bentum is a Full Professor in Radio Science with the research group Electromagnetics at the TU/e department of Electrical Engineering. He is also affiliated with the Netherlands Foundation for Research in Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), where he is head of the radio group. His main research interest is in radio astronomy, particular in low frequency radio astronomy. He is the initiator of the OLFAR project, the Orbiting Low Frequency Antennas for Radio astronomy. OLFAR is a space-based radio telescope to observe the sky at frequencies below 30 MHz consisting of many small satellites. Opening this virtually unexplored frequency band will possibly lead to new scientific insights, like the formation of the Universe and the detection of magnetized exoplanets.  

At TU/e his work focuses on various aspects of this radio telescope, such as the antenna systems, the calibration of the array, the clocking and synchronization of all the elements, localization, interference mitigation and the signal processing aspects of the telescope. Mark Bentum is a senior member of the IEEE, vice chair of the IEEE Benelux section, initiator and chair of the IEEE Benelux AESS/GRSS chapter, and has acted as a reviewer for various conferences and journals.

By making space-based low frequency radio astronomy possible, we will open an unexplored frequency band for science. I’m looking forward to very exciting results.”