Rate My Professor Jaan Praks

Jaan Praks is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering within Aalto University's School of Electrical Engineering, where he leads the Jaan Praks Group focused on space technology and microwave remote sensing. He received his B.Sc. degree in physics from the University of Tartu, Estonia, in 1996, and his D.Sc. (Tech.) degree in space technology and remote sensing from Aalto University in 2012. Since 2009, Praks has driven Finland's nanosatellite program, leading the teams that developed and launched the nation's first satellites, Aalto-1 and Aalto-2 in 2017, as well as Foresail-1 and Foresail-1 prime. These efforts have ignited space technology enthusiasm across Finland, established the country as Europe's leader in small-satellite Earth observation production, and spun off remote sensing startups including ICEYE and Kuva Space from his group. He currently serves as Principal Investigator on key initiatives such as the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Space Resilience (2026-2030), E-Sailors under EU Horizon Europe, SPACECONOMY I, and SPIDAR for space debris mapping.

Praks's research encompasses microwave Earth observation, synthetic aperture radar techniques like polarimetry, interferometry, polarimetric interferometry, and SAR tomography, CubeSat systems including sun sensors and radiation shielding, and applications in boreal forest remote sensing and low Earth orbit positioning, navigation, and timing. With over 260 research outputs, his highly cited publications include "Position, navigation, and timing (PNT) through low earth orbit (LEO) satellites: A survey on current status, challenges, and opportunities" (2022, 368 citations), "A sun glint correction method for hyperspectral imagery containing areas with non-negligible water leaving NIR signal" (2009, 163 citations), "Interferometric SAR coherence models for characterization of hemiboreal forests using TanDEM-X data" (2016, 131 citations), and "Aalto-1 nanosatellite–technical description and mission objectives" (2013, 108 citations). Praks chairs the Finnish National Committees for COSPAR and URSI, founded and chairs the Winter Satellite Workshop—the largest space technology conference in Scandinavia—and received the Espoo Ambassador 2025 award for his visionary leadership in space technology.