Thomas H Zurbuchen's Avatar

Thomas H Zurbuchen

@drthomasz.bsky.social

Scientist, Explorer, Innovator, ETH Prof, NASA’s head of Science 2016-2022

1,812 Followers  |  47 Following  |  40 Posts  |  Joined: 31.08.2023  |  1.7933

Latest posts by drthomasz.bsky.social on Bluesky

Tribute to NASA Earth Trailblazer
YouTube video by ScienceAtNASA Tribute to NASA Earth Trailblazer

In 5 days it is already 5 years that award winning scientist & @NASAEarth director from 2006-2019 passed away. I have been thinking of him a lot, with gratitude for being able to work closely with him and for all I learned from him. I still think it him often

youtu.be/UDJrk1RsosQ?...

01.08.2025 05:35 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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The Jörg G. Bucherer-Foundation donates 100 million Swiss francs to ETH Zurich for Earth observation centre ETH Zurich will receive 10 million Swiss francs a year from the Jörg G. Bucherer-Foundation for the next ten years. The university will use the funds to establish a competence centre for Earth observa...

ETH Zurich receives CHF 100M from the Jörg G. Bucherer-Foundation to launch ETH Swiss GeoLab – a global Earth observation centre based in Lucerne. Led by Thomas Zurbuchen & Verena Griess, it will use satellite & sensor data to address global & local challenges.

Read more:

08.07.2025 08:13 — 👍 21    🔁 7    💬 1    📌 2
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Warum es ein europäisches SpaceX braucht: Thomas Zurbuchen und Josef Aschbacher zum All Was die ESA vom ehemaligen NASA-Chef lernen kann.

Wir haben in Lausanne am 50-Jahre-Jubiläum @drthomasz.bsky.social und @josefaschbacher.esa.int zum Interview getroffen: Über geopolitische Risse im All, europäische Chancen und worum uns sogar die USA beneiden.

30.05.2025 19:26 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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Another day as a bi-continental human 🌎🌍🇺🇸🇨🇭

Seeing your friend take off towards the alps #ByeNads, and boarding another @unitedairlinesual.bsky.social flight…

@nadiadrake.bsky.social ✈️

30.05.2025 10:56 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Highlight of the week for me was visiting Jamie Dunn at NASA Goddard, the manager of Roman Space Telescope.

Jamie and team have done an incredible job building this discovery machine - while keeping it on schedule towards launch and within cost. Super proud of them! 🔭

21.03.2025 15:27 — 👍 18    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 0

Def my 2nd fav dog in the 🌎…

31.01.2025 17:45 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Listening to the ongoing NASA Telecon… reminds me of my dog during a time of her life which was not her fav … www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/sph...

31.01.2025 17:31 — 👍 13    🔁 2    💬 2    📌 0
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Satellite imagery captured by MAXAR showing the extent of the Eaton Fire in North Pasadena and Altadena.

Friends and explorers worldwide, join me in my support for the many explorers and scientists at @nasajpl who lost their homes and/or whose lives were affected by these terrible fires.

Remember: Support is not just measured in words, it is $s…

caltech.imodules.com/controls/ema...

10.01.2025 23:36 — 👍 15    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0
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Blue sky - white snow Utah style…

Yes - @deervalley.bsky.social is where I like to be most during this time of the year!

07.01.2025 22:06 — 👍 16    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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The Swiss🇨🇭love fireworks even more than the Americans 🇺🇸. My doggie Luna - not so much… So, I spent the entire 2-3 hours of max noise 🎆💥 in the quietest room in our place - and loved it. #LuvMyDog

Happy 45^2 to all!

01.01.2025 19:46 — 👍 13    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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#RIPPresidentCarter, traveling among the stars ✨

30.12.2024 17:48 — 👍 22    🔁 7    💬 0    📌 0

NASA just confirmed the Parker Solar Probe survived its closest ever passage of the Sun!

Beacon tone was received last night 🟢

We'll start getting data from the historic flyby on 1 January.

27.12.2024 08:33 — 👍 71    🔁 12    💬 1    📌 5
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“No Man Is A Failure Who Has Friends.” "Each Man's Life Touches So Many Other Lives"

#ItsAWonderfulLife #StephansQuintet
#JWST

25.12.2024 01:10 — 👍 34    🔁 4    💬 1    📌 0
Post image 24.12.2024 12:25 — 👍 12    🔁 1    💬 3    📌 0
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Opinion | A journey to hell in the name of science NASA’s Parker Space Probe will spend Christmas Eve inside the sun’s corona.

“This holiday season is not immune to @NASA barging in: On December 24, the agency’s Parker Solar Probe will make its closest approach to the ☀️.”

#tohellandback #NASAHatesHolidays

Thanks to Nadia Drake for helping me improve my writing this year!

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

23.12.2024 16:08 — 👍 39    🔁 10    💬 3    📌 1
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Merry Christmas from Switzerland - with Glühwein, Christmas 🎄🎄, and big and small decorations all around town.

23.12.2024 15:42 — 👍 6    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Enjoying some days in Park City, Utah. Whether ⛷️ or 🏃‍♂️, the outdoors make me feel more centered and more connected to nature!

03.12.2024 22:03 — 👍 11    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Yesterday, touching down in the city that never sleeps… #JFK

01.12.2024 14:58 — 👍 6    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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As part of Bern’s century old "Zibelemärit" (transl. "market of onions" tradition, an
"Oberzibelegring" (OZG) is appointed. They are a patron of sorts for this day, selected yearly.

This year, I was announced as OZG and given the stylish/scary onion necklace.
#bernese #zibelemärit #bärn

29.11.2024 20:25 — 👍 5    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Finished a snowy and beautiful run and only wished more ppl (especially those w headphones) practiced a cardinal rule of skiing slopes:

Under all circumstances, only use 50% of the slope so others can pass! ⛷️⛷️👎💥

23.11.2024 13:38 — 👍 7    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

By the way: the application for the specialised Master's degree programme in Space Systems at ETH Zurich with start in Autumn Semester 2025 is now open and ends on 30 November 2024. This application window is for students with a Bachelor's degree from outside Switzerland.

22.11.2024 15:45 — 👍 3    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0
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Final project presentation of the 1st year ever of the 🇨🇭Space Masters Program. Students walked away with two impressions. 1. they recognize that developing space systems is very much in their reach; 2. they are acutely aware of the hard challenges related to such systems!

#InnovateTillLate

21.11.2024 13:01 — 👍 16    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 1

Cool 🧵 about 📡👽

20.11.2024 19:47 — 👍 4    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

And you…

20.11.2024 08:56 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Guess what I am watching #flight6

19.11.2024 21:38 — 👍 13    🔁 0    💬 2    📌 0
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The Arecibo Message, Earth’s First Interstellar Transmission, Turns 50 In 1974 we beamed a radio transmission into space that changed the way we think about our place in the cosmos

“Searching for life beyond Earth is, in some sense, an exercise in optimism.”

Read this beautiful article by @nadiadrake.bsky.social about an interstellar 50th anniversary, which also concerns her family. (Lots of @thebeatles, too … can you find it?)

www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

15.11.2024 23:45 — 👍 25    🔁 10    💬 0    📌 1
Episode 172 - Culberson Always Talked About Shrimp (with Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen)
YouTube video by Off-Nominal Episode 172 - Culberson Always Talked About Shrimp (with Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen)

I had a chance to chat with @drthomasz.bsky.social (who ran NASA's science programs for 6 years) about planetary missions, cost growth, and how to make tough decisions in managing these programs.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzRo...

25.10.2024 02:25 — 👍 4    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
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(S+) Nachruf auf kaputten Mars-Helikopter der Nasa: »Ginny« fliegt nicht mehr Am Anfang stand eine verrückte Idee – und die Ablehnung beim Raumfahrt-Establishment. Dann wurde der Mars-Helikopter »Ingenuity« ein Erfolg. Nach einer unsanften Landung ist nun Schluss, bis zum ...

I wrote an obituary for NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity and spoke to @drthomasz.bsky.social about the restless little robot that few people at NASA wanted to be on the Mars2020 mission in the beginning: www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft... @spiegelmagazin.bsky.social

26.01.2024 19:31 — 👍 3    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
Astrophysicist Thomas Zurbuchen and philosopher Barbara Bleisch sitting together and discussing, laughing, on a podium in St. Gallen, Switzerland. In the background, a title image says "Mensch & Universum" (Humanity & Universe).

Astrophysicist Thomas Zurbuchen and philosopher Barbara Bleisch sitting together and discussing, laughing, on a podium in St. Gallen, Switzerland. In the background, a title image says "Mensch & Universum" (Humanity & Universe).

Great discussion in front of a big audience, on 19th of June in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Astrophysicist Thomas Zurbuchen (@drthomasz.bsky.social) is interviewed by philosopher Barbara Bleisch on a range of topics on humanity and the universe. Thank you both for a wonderful evening! (image: J. Seitz)

21.06.2024 11:52 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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Day trip to City of #Thun and my home town of #Heiligenschwendi w US family members.

Visiting the Thun Castle, and looking out from its towers, reminds us of times as far back as 12th century when people were also in this beautiful but wild environment of the Swiss Alps and tried to live well.

29.10.2023 19:34 — 👍 6    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

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