Summer School I – E-Sailors

E-Sailors

22-24 September 2026 / RTU, Riga, Latvia

Schedule:

DAY 0 (Monday, 21 September)

DAY 1 (Tuesday, 22 September)

09:00 Ali Arshad (RTU) “Welcome address. Schedule of the summer school”
09:30 Aditya Savio Paul (UT) “Presentation of the E-Sailors project and Consortium”
10:00 Coffee break
10:20 KEYNOTE: Mykola Ivchenko (KTH) “Fundaments of space plasma physics”
11:50 Jaan Praks (Aalto) “Lessons learned from previous E-sail missions. Nanospacecraft platform design”
12:20 Student kick-off meeting: Doctoral Candidates presentations, session 1
13:00 Lunch break
14:00 Student kick-off meeting: Doctoral Candidates presentations, session 2
16:00 Coffee break
16:30 Student kick-off meeting: First meeting among Doctral Candidates
17:30 End of the day

DAY 2 (Wednesday, 23 September)

09:00 KEYNOTE: Pekka Janhunen (FMI) “Introduction to the Coulomb drag propulsion. Brief history of the E-sail concept”
10:30 (APT) Perttu Yli-Opas “E-sail tether design and manufacturing”
11:00 Coffee break
11:30 KEYNOTE: Martin Tajmar (TUD) “Fundamental components for E-sailing: high-voltage source, electron emitter, FEEP”
12:30 Mykola Ivchenko (KTH) “Plasma interactions and plasma probes”
12:00 Lunch break
14:00 Industrial partners session part 1: research activity in companies, expected outcomes
15:30 Coffee break
16:00 Industrial partners session part 2: research activity in companies, expected outcomes
17:00 End of the day

DAY 3 (Thursday, 24 September)

09.30 Ali Arshad (RTU) “RTU: presentation of space activities”
09:45 Andris Vaivads (VUAS) “VUAS: presentation of space activities”
10:00 Lorenzo Niccolai (UNIPI) “A brief overview of E-sail thrust models for orbital dynamic simulation”
10:30 (NC) Mario Palos “Development of the ESME software”
11:00 Coffee break
11:30 WORKSHOP: Lorenzo Niccolai (UNIPI) “How to write a scientific paper? Theory + practical test”
13:00 Lunch break
14:00 WORKSHOP: Lorenzo Niccolai (UNIPI) “How to give an effective presentation? Theory”
15:00 Coffee break
15:30 WORKSHOP: Lorenzo Niccolai (UNIPI) “How to give an effective presentation? Practical test”
17:00 Ali Arshad (RTU) “Closing remarks”
17:30 End of the day