When someone tells you they've spent years developing a propulsion system that sounds like science fiction—a hair-thin tether spinning in space, riding solar wind like an invisible river—you listen. When that same person tells you how they envision this technology to work in actual space conditions, you lean in even closer.
Dr. Andris Slavinskis, co-founder of Nanocraft SIA, Professor at Riga Technical University and working with Tartu Observatory, University of Tartu, joined us for Episode 17 of Hyperbolic Orbits to talk about electric solar wind sails, building Estonia's first satellite, and building world-class student teams to build spacecrafts.
A Computer Scientist Built Satellites
Dr. Slavinskis didn't start in aerospace. He studied computer science, worked on software problems, and then started a PhD position on Estonia's first satellite project. The ESTCube-1 mission became a training ground that seeded Estonia and the neighbouring region's growing space industry, proving that student projects taking significant risks can become an exceptional tool for hands-on education.
Building Spacecraft for Targets That Aren't Identified — Yet
The episode dives into Dr. Slavinskis's current work on ESA's Comet Interceptor mission—one of the most audacious mission concepts in current development. The spacecraft is planned to launch in 2029, park at a Lagrange point, and wait for telescopes to spot a pristine comet coming from the Oort cloud. Only then will the mission know what it's actually chasing.
Dr. Slavinskis creates photorealistic models of comets, simulating what seven different cameras will see during a flyby of a target that hasn't been identified yet. The technical gymnastics required to prepare for an encounter with something you've never observed—that's the kind of problem-solving that makes space exploration endlessly fascinating.
The Novel Propulsion System
The heart of the episode is Dr. Slavinskis's micro-lecture on electric solar wind sail technology. Instead of carrying massive fuel tanks or requiring enormous solar panels, you deploy a long charged tether that rides the constant stream of particles flowing from the sun. It's propulsion that uses what's already present in space, elegant in its simplicity, revolutionary in its potential.
The catch? Earth's magnetic field protects us from solar wind in low orbit, so the technology needs to go beyond Earth's magnetosphere—to lunar orbit—for a real demonstration.
Enter ESTCube-LuNa, the mission concept designed to finally prove this works. Dr. Slavinskis walks through the technical details—how it would spin to keep the tether stretched, how it would measure thrust through orbital changes, how it would navigate autonomously using cameras and ground-based radio telescopes. The mission includes a beautiful visualization set to music by Latvian artists that captures the poetry of spinning spacecraft and invisible forces.
Hyperbolic Orbits Podcast brings you conversations with space professionals pushing boundaries, one mission at a time. Subscribe on Youtube and Spotify to catch every episode, and let us know what space topics you want to explore next!
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