Paul's Portfolio

Introduction

Since 2008 I have worked on different positions in the space domain and created a wide variety of results. I started with working with CubeSats and ended up developing space policy and looking to expand to space cyber security. On this page I summarized some of my activates over the years and added some links or references for more information. I plan to keep to keep this page up-to-date so if some links are missing today then you are more than welcome to visit this page again in the near future.

Space Policy

I started working with space policy in 2016 when I joined the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication for Estonia (MEAC). MEAC is responsible for coordinating space in Estonia and also managing Estonian participation to the Space Programme of the European Union and membership to the European Space Agency (ESA). Representing Estonia in these organizations has created a comprehensive  understanding how the space industry works and how to build a novel space ecosystem in Estonia.

Estonian Space Policy and Programme 

The idea to create a long-term space policy for Estonia came in 2018 when the first ideas were drafted from zero. Main consultations and writing took place in 2019 and the document was signed in April 2020 by the Minister of IT & Foreign Trade.

Three main industry policy areas were defined:

  • Space Cyber Security
  • Machine Learning
  • Innovation

The new space policy increased government spending on space R&D and accelerated the growth of the sector.

Estonian Space Policy and Prgoamme 2020-2027 documents are available here:

Article: Estonia’s space policy – prioritizing e-gov, cybersecurity and AI

Policy document in Estonian: Estonian Space Policy

Estonian Space Cyber Security Missions

The aim of the Estonian space cyber security missions programme is to spin-in the Estonian cyber security knowledge to the space domain – to build new services and products to make the space domain more safe and secure.

As a result of the programme Estonian companies have developed and validated their technology for the space domain. The initiative has validated that there is a market for space cyber security market.

In the next steps it is planned to build a end-to-end space cyber range as a private public partnership (PPP).

Estonian Space Council

Estonian Space Policy is guided and coordinated by the Estonian Space Council managed by Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of Estonia. Together with the new Estonian Space Policy from 2020 the importance of the Estonian Space Council has grown.

I have been coordinating the work of the Estonian Space Council. Today we can see a strong will from many Estonian government and private entities to bring the Estonian space sector to the new level.

Other work on space policy

Work on many space related studies, strategies, consultations, etc. 

Space Technology

Since 2008 when I joined the first Estonian Satellite Programme – ESTCube-1

First Estonian Satellite ESTCube-1

ESTCube-1 is the first Estonian satellite and first satellite in the world to attempt to use an electric solar wind sail (E-sail). It was launched on 7 May 2013 aboard a Vega carrier rocket and successfully deployed into orbit. ESTCube worked for more than two years. I was one of the students who joined the ESTCube project in the very beginning in 2008 and stayed until the end.
– Developed satellite structure and antenna deployment system
– Created the layout of the satellite
– Organized manufacturing of components
– Organized workshops and raised money for them
– Communication for the project: TV, radio, lectures and articles
– Represented Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) in the project

First Estonian Satellite ESTCube-1

Radius Space

Frontend for the Estonian machine shops to sell manufacturing and mechanical engineering services to the aerospace market. Radius Space was the first Estonian space company with self-designed and manufactured hardware in space. We worked together with many NewSpace projects in Scandinavia and Western Europe. During the first two years we were involved in seven satellite projects. Today the number is still growing.
– Co-Founded the company
– Sales to the aerospace market
– Offered mechanical – and system engineering services for space projects

Cubehub

Co-founder of groundstation network for small satellites. 

Space Law

Talks about an Estonian national space law have been around for a decade. I started dealing with the space law issues in 2017. 

Estonian Space Law

The preparations for working on a national space law started already in 2018. After some research I found a clear connection between e-governance, the Estonian flagship topic, and the space law. The main overlap is Space Traffic Management (STM), which similar to the Estonian e-stat is all about exchange of information between different parties and databases belonging to the public as well to the private sector.

Space Traffic Management became the main narrative for the Estonian Space Law and also steered the Estonian Space Policy and Estonian investments to ESA optional programmes. 

In mid 2020 I drafted the intention to create a Estonian National Space Legislation, which was sent out for comments in August 2020 and a public consultation took place in October 2020. 

Link to Eesti kosmoseobjektide seaduseelnõu väljatöötamise kavatsus.

The work on Estonian Space Law was delayed due to growing space activities and missing human resources.

Estonian Space Law Working Group

The Estonian Space Law Working Group was established in February 2023 with the aim to write the bill. 

Conferences

European Space Week 2017

I lead the development of the European Space Week concept together with the European Commission during Estonian Presidency of the Council of the EU. European Space Week 2017 was the first event and the concept has been running since then together with the EU Council Presidencies. ESW 2017 took place in Estonia and it was a full week full of space related events for students, startups, industry, investors, Members of Parliaments and Space Minister. Some events worth to mention:

Software Defined Space Conference series

The idea to host an annual space conference in Tallinn came while developing on the Estonian Space Policy in 2019. The initial idea was to create a space cyber security conference. After the first event it was clear that the topic around space cyber security is much bigger and in beginning of 2022 I proposed the new term Software Defined Space, which became soon a new brand for Estonian space activities. Now we are building a flagship conference series for the Estonian space sector. More information about the events can be found here

Future work

The main topics for the next years will be:

  • Finalize the Estonian Space Law in 2023.
  • Test and validate new space policy initiatives which would boost the grow of space technology companies in Estonia / Europe / Globally.
  • Accelerate the development of end to end Space Cyber Ranges to make the space segment more safe and secure.
  • Space Traffic Management 
  • Various additions to the Estonian Space Policy document and a major update around 2025.