Professor Minna Palmroth is is the Director of the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Space Resilience. She is an Academy Professor and Professor of Computational Space Physics at the University of Helsinki. Professor Palmroth is the Principal Investigator of the globally unique Vlasiator simulation simulation, combining frontier space physics with high-performance computing. Her work connects scientific excellence with societal resilience, focusing on space weather preparedness, sustainability, and long-term strategic foresight.
Professor Anita Aikio is the vice leader of the CoE in Space Resilience. She leads the Space Physics and Astronomy Research Unit at University of Oulu. She and her team work in the ionosphere-thermosphere work package of the CoE studying how nominal and extreme geomagnetic storms driven by the interaction of the solar wind with the Earth’s magnetosphere affect the upper atmosphere. Both measurements (e.g., ESA’s satellites and EISCAT/3D radars) and modelling including machine learning tools are used. Studied phenomena are important for different space weather effects, e.g., satellite drag at low-Earth-orbit as well as radiowave propagation, GNSS navigation and positioning.
Prof. Rami Vainio leads the Space Research Laboratory at the University of Turku. He and his team bring in important experience of building charged particle radiation detectors aboard CubeSat missions, including Aalto-1, Foresail-1P, and ESA/HENON. The team analyses solar eruptions using data from CubeSats and international missions like SOHO, BepiColombo, Solar Obriter and Parker Solar Probe, and develops models for the space radiation environment.
Emilia Kilpua is a professor at the University of Helsinki, leading the Observations team. Her team’s primary focus in the Centre of Excellence is providing observational information on solar eruptions and related particles acceleration, solar wind structures and their effects in the Earth’s radiation environment, and also providing resources for coronal and interplanetary modelling. T
Jaan Praks is an Associate Professor at Aalto University, and has extensive experience of CubeSat missions developed at educational institutes. He was project lead on both the Aalto-1 and Aalto-2 CubeSat projects. The team led by prof. Praks is the principal developer of the hardware and engineering solutions for the CubeSat missions of the Centre of Excellence.
Liisa Juusola is a researcher at the Finnish Meteorological Institute. She leads the Ionosphere-ground team, which focuses on understanding the geoelectric field hazard for power transmission and the two-way coupling between the ground and the ionosphere. The team uses long time series of ground-based magnetic field observations to empirically model past events. Physics-based induction simulations are utilized to study extreme events that have not yet occurred during the modern observational era