At age 14, Rik started making his first telescope mirrors. From 1985 until 1998 he was owner of his optical company (Opticon) where optics were made for Astronomy, Industry and Medical Systems. Over this period, Rik developed new methods for manufacturing Schmidt-Cassegrain optics and made the first ‘Solid Telescope prototypes’. Since 2003 he works for the Optical and Infrared Group of NOVA in Dwingeloo as optical engineer, where he developed a polishing process for bare aluminum mirrors, needed for VLT- and ELT instrumentation, and runs a private business for optical consultancy. In 2024 he decided to join Ramon and Valentijn to start ‘Tiny Telescope BV’.

Valentijn Borstlap started his career as a founder serial entrepreneur in the Webhosting, Domains and Managed Service Provider business. Today, Valentijn is an active investor in various start-ups & scale-ups, with a focus on environmental and tech companies that are disrupting their industries on a global scale. With his hands-on mentality, Valentijn challenges and helps entrepreneurs on various topics, to bring their companies to a new phase.

Ramon Navarro studied applied physics with a specialization in optical technologies. After a career developing lasers for telecommunication and nanometer level sensing equipment for semiconductor manufacturing, he shifted his focus to astronomy. For the last two decades he leads the astronomical optical and infrared scientific instrumentation development activities in The Netherlands, representing all universities in NOVA, with a focus on the Very Large Telescope, Extremely Large Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope.

Tiny Telescope is a spin off company originating from the NOVA optical-infrared instrumentation group, located at ASTRON in Dwingeloo. Tiny Telescope treasures the special relation it has to founding partner NOVA. We have an agreement on the use of NOVA staff and facilities. This inspiring group consists of 30 highly qualified and motivated experts in all sorts of technologies necessary to conceive, design, build and test optical and infrared instrumentation for science and in space. The many facilities include mechanical manufacturing and performance verification under clean room conditions, optical manufacturing and testing, even in extreme environments e.g under vacuum cryogenic conditions.

Tiny Telescope works with Fred Kampues, owner of Mill House and ESO Photo Ambassador. Mill House Engineering and Management Consultancy was established in 1995 to support state-of-the art technology projects in Space Science, Ground Based Astronomy and Motor Racing. Activities include Project Management, Assembly & Integration, Verification, Quality Assurance, Product Development, Procurement and Marketing & Sales Support. Fred has tons of experience in opto-mechanics development for large telescopes, lasers, deformable mirrors and space instrumentation.