Gonzalo Sánchez Arriaga is full professor at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, where he leads a research team on space tethers and airborne wind energy. He coordinated the EIC Pathfinder E.T.PACK project and the EIC Transition E.T.PACK-F project, both of them aimed at the development of a deorbit device based on electrodynamic tether technology that will be in-orbit demonstrated in 2025. He is co-founder of PERSEI SPACE, a new space company dedicated to the development and commercialization of space tether products.
He is an Aerospace Engineer (UPM, 2004) and Astrophysicist (UCM, 2010). After completing a PhD on space tethers in 2009, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (2009-2011), as Assistant Professors at UPM (2012-2015), and as Ramón y Cajal Research fellow (2015-2020) and Assistant Professor (2020-2024) at UC3M. He is Director of the Bs. in Aerospace Engineering at UC3M and published more than 65 peer-reviewed papers on tethers, airborne wind energy and plasma physics.