His core area is space instrumentation in the broadest sense of the word. Kuiper is responsible for the main Master's lectures in Space Instrumentation Systems Engineering. “We've adopted an original approach to organising the lectures, with a laboratory course in optical design and various external speakers. Students simulate objects that can really fly, such as the Hubble space telescope, to test their limits.” Kuiper started out as a physicist: “Applied physics in space is fascinating. It's thrilling when something that you design and test actually works.” Kuiper is coordinating three large research projects: a ‘big brother’-like programme for security and justice, an extremely low-flying Earth observation system and a Deployable Space Telescope (DST). “In the latter two projects, we are conducting studies with Dutch industry into flying in very low orbits around the Earth. Currently, around 300 km is the lowest possible, in the future that figure will be just 150 km. If you combine that fact with the unfolding telescope, it will be possible to see and monitor the Earth with centimetre-level accuracy!” The aim of these is to stabilise spacecraft attitudes and orient it in a specific direction. “If you place a camera on a spacecraft at an altitude of 20,000 km, the slightest movement is enough to blur the image. This means that it's essential to stabilise the platforms, but it's also very complicated. My field of research is at the cutting edge: developing instrumentation needs to go hand-in-hand with ADCS systems in order to achieve good results.”