Alexandru Uifalean

Areas of expertise

• Space Systems

Background

Alexandru Uifalean holds an MSc in Space Engineering from the University of Surrey and graduated in 2020 with Distinction after writing a thesis in Astrodynamics and Space Mission Design. He also holds a BEng (First Class Honours) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Northampton.

Between July 2021 and September 2022, Alexandru was a Spacecraft AIT (Assembly, Integration & Test) Engineer at Open Cosmos in Harwell Campus where he was leading the AIT campaign of a 12U Earth Observation CubeSat.

In October 2022, he was appointed Mechanical Engineer at XCAM Ltd where he is responsible for mechanical analysis, design, production and AIT activities of low-volume, high-value cameras for space and science applications. 

Upon receiving most of the funding from XCAM Ltd, Alexandru started a part-time PhD in Aerospace Engineering at the Cranfield Space Propulsion Lab under the supervision of Dr Enric Grustan.

Current activities

Alexandru is developing an MHD (magnetohydrodynamics) thruster for spacecraft propulsion that uses ionic liquids as propellants. The MHD thruster's working principles are similar to an MPD (magnetoplasmadynamics) thruster except that it does not need to generate plasma. This would significantly reduce the overall power budget of the spacecraft and, therefore, the size of the satellite's EPS (electrical power system), allowing more payload mass and volume budget.