Andris Slavinskis

MISSIONS and PROJECTS

Electric Sail Test Cube – Lunar Nanospacecraft (ESTCube-LuNa)

The ESTCube-LuNa mission concept envisions the electric solar wind sail test mission in lunar orbit. We provide preliminary cubesat-style solutions for the E-sail experiment, communications, navigation, attitude determination and control as an ambitious technology development roadmap for bringing nanospacecraft to deep space.

Electric Sail Mission Expeditor (ESME)

The ESME is E-sail modelling and mission design tool originally developed for the ESTCube-LuNa concept and we are working towards generalisation of E-sail trajectory and mission design.

ESTCube-2

ESTCube-2 is a mission in low Earth orbit to demonstrate the plasma brake for deorbiting and other technologies required for operating the electric sail in the solar wind. ESTCube-2 is a three-unit CubeSat developed for future deep-space applications in mind — reaction wheels, star tracker, cold gas propulsion and the rest of the spacecraft bus fits in one unit, leaving the rest for payloads. The ESTCube-2 satellite was onboard the Vega VV23 rocked but did not deploy from it and deorbited along with the upper stage.

Space Imaging Simulator for Proximity Operations (SISPO)

Together with a group of volunteers, we are developing SISPO, a Blender-based open-source project which helps to create photorealistic scenes for space mission design and instrument development.

Multi-Asteroid Touring

Muti-Asteroid Touring is a mission concept to flyby hundreds of asteroids with tens of nanospacecraft propelled by the electric sail.

Comet Interceptor

Comet Interceptor has been selected as ESA’s new fast-class mission. Comprising three spacecraft, it will be the first to visit a truly pristine comet or other interstellar object that is only just starting its journey into the inner Solar System. UT Tartu Observatory leads the Optical Periscopic Imager for Comets (OPIC) development. The instrument is named after an Estonian astronomer Ernst Öpik who proposed a reservoir of comets which is now called the Öpik–Oort cloud, from where the Comet Interceptor target would originate.

Finnish Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Space (FORESAIL)

While working at Aalto, I was a FORESAIL team member. Two major areas of the project are space debris and radiation effects on satellites. Foresail-1 mission will demonstrate the plasma brake for deorbiting and measure radiation belt losses with PArticle TElescope (PATE). Foresail-2 will characterize ultra low frequency waves, Coulomb drag and radiation effects in various environments of altitudes ranging from low Earth orbit to several Earth radii.

Tradespace Analysis Tool for Constellations

I developed the TAT-C's orbit maintenance module which uses computationally-lightweight models to predict the long-term secular drift of relative orbital elements due to the gravitational 'J2' effects and the atmospheric drag. Simple orbital maneuvers are assumed to estimate the ∆v budget, propellant consumption and the frequency of maneuvers. This allows to explore a large set of constellation designs in a short time frame without propagating orbits.

ESTCube-1

ESTCube-1, launched in 2013, was the first satellite that attempted to test the electric solar wind sail. Below is an animation how the mission was intended. The reality was much more fun and it is presented in "ESTCube-1 In-Orbit Experience and Lessons Learned".