Born 31 May 1966 in Hämeenlinna, Finland, Finnish citizen, resident of Finland.

Speaks Finnish (native), English (excellent), Swedish (good), German (modest)

Pekka Janhunen is a space physicist, astrobiologist, and inventor. Janhunen, Ph.D., is a Research Manager at Finnish Meteorological Institute's Space and Earth Observation Centre, and a visiting professor at University of Tartu, Estonia. He is also senior technical advisor at Aurora Propulsion Technologies, a startup company, operating in space sector. He studied theoretical physics at the University of Helsinki, and made his PhD on space plasma physics simulations in 1994. He has also published a theory on the origin of multicellular life. He is best known for his Electric Solar Wind Sail invention.

 

The Electric Sail could enable travelling at speeds up to 100 km/s in space without any fuel consumption. With no major problems in any of the technical fields thus far, the planning of the first test mission has started, according to an article by Sciencedaily. In the same article, Sciencedaily wrote that "the electric solar wind sail developed by Dr. Pekka Janhunen might revolutionise travelling in space." Janhunen received funding for his electric solar wind sail research from Runar Bäckström foundation in 2005.

CLICK IMAGE BELOW FOR ELECTRIC SOLAR WIND SAIL INFO:

 

Janhunen has proposed that steam balloons could be used to launch rockets and satellites from higher altitudes. According to Janhunen Steam balloons are a cost-effective way of lifting a rocket into the stratosphere. The method is considered to be safe as well as reducing the carbon footprint of future rocket launches, where as in the past the emissions alone had terrible implications for the climate.

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STEAM BALLOONS TO LAUNCH MISSIONS TO SPACE

Janhunen has proposed a lighting solution for an O'Neill Cylinder.

CLICK IMAGE BELOW FOR INFO FOR O'NEILL CYLINDER:

In Janhunen's concept sunlight is concentrated by cylindrical paraboloid concentrators and reflected by semi-toroidal and conical reflectors and controlled by local blinders to simulate earthlike diurnal and seasonal illumination cycles. The rural wall living cylinder is divided into 20 z-directed valleys which are in different phases of the light cycles. No moving parts are needed other than numerous and easily accessible local blinders that regulate light input into the valleys. The settlement rotates as a rigid body and the mass distribution is such that the rotation is passively stable.