Main Focus

I am a physicist working in the following fields: plasma physics in the heliosphere, cometary dust, space instrumentation.


Curriculum Vitae

Education and Employment:

Since 2007: Co-I on BELA (BepiColombo Laser Altimeter) and MIXS (Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer), two instruments onboard the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury (launched in 2018, arrival at Mercury ~2025)
Since 2006: PI of the dust analyzing instrument COSIMA (COmetary Secondary Ion Mass Analyser) onboard ESA's ROSETTA mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Since 1996: staff scientist, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), Göttingen (earlier: Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy (MPAE), Katlenburg-Lindau), Germany
1990 – 1996: development of instrumentation for the ESA SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and in-flight data analysis, L-CoI CELIAS/STOF, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany
1986 – 1990: postdoc fellowship at the chemical department of the City University in London, UK
1986: PhD in laser physics and immunology, University of Innsbruck, Austria

See also add-on homepage about CELIAS (Charge, Element, and Isotope Analysis System), an instrument onboard SOHO (photos 1990 – 1995): http://www2.mps.mpg.de/homes/hilchenbach/

Selected Publications:

(1) M Hilchenbach, J Kissel, Y Langevin, C Briois, H Von Hoerner, A Koch, ... (2016), Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko: close-up on dust particle fragments, The Astrophysical Journal Letters 816 (2), L32

(2) M Hilchenbach, O Küchemann, H Rosenbauer (2000), Impact on a comet: Rosetta Lander simulations, Planetary and Space Science 48 (5), 361-369

(3) M Hilchenbach, KC Hsieh, D Hovestadt, B Klecker, and H Grünwaldt, ...(1998), Detection of 55-80 keV hydrogen atoms of heliospheric origin by CELIAS/HSTOF on SOHO, The Astrophysical Journal 503 (2), 916

(4) M Hilchenbach, D Hovestadt, B Klecker, and E Möbius (1993), Observation of energetic lunar pick-up ions near Earth, Advances in Space Research 13 (10), 321-324

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