​

Hi there,
 

I am a Co-Founder of Nanocraft SIA in Latvia, where we are developing ultra-low-latency satellite connectivity. I am also a Council Member of Ventspils University of Applied Sciences (VUAS) and I co-supervise PhD students on space topics at University of Tartu (UT) Tartu Observatory in Estonia and at Riga Technical University (RTU) in Latvia.
 

Before the company, I spent 15 years in academia, starting my PhD studies in 2011 and holding professors position from 2021 to 2026 at UT and RTU. I developed in the field of space technology at UT Tartu Observatory, where my primary focus was the electric solar wind sail, or E-sail, and cubesat development. I was a core team member of the first Estonian satellite ESTCube-1 and, as the leading scientist of the ESTCube Student Satellite Programme from 2015 to 2023, I co-founded of the ESTCube-2 mission and the ESTCube-LuNa mission concept. Together with the OPIC PI Mihkel Pajusalu, we brought the Comet Interceptor mission to Estonia as the first instrument contribution to an ESA science mission. I wrote the proposal for the MSCA Doctoral Network E-Sailors, which brings together UT, RTU, VUAS and Nanocraft, and I was the Guest Editor of the Special Issue "Advances in CubeSat Sails and Tethers" during 2022–2024.

Earlier, I was a Postdoc at Aalto University in Finland and served at NASA Ames Research Center's Mission Design Division, advancing the Multi-Asteroid Touring concept proposed by Pekka Janhunen, the inventor of the electric sail. In 2016, I received the IEEE Harry Rowe Mimno Award as the first author of the paper ESTCube-1 In-Orbit Experience and Lessons Learned. I received a PhD degree in Physics from the UT in 2015 on ESTCube-1 attitude determination & control, and BSc and MSc degrees in computer science from VUAS in 2009 and 2011.
 

Cheers,
Andris Slavinskis

​