Prof. Willem Jordaan

Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering

Willem Jordaan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Stellenbosch University, where he received both his BEng degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering with Computer Science and his PhD, which investigated control systems for spinning solar sailing satellites. With over 15 years of experience in embedded and control system design, he has contributed to a number of international satellite missions — including QB50, DeOrbitSail, and RemoveDebris — covering satellite hardware engineering, flight software development, and embedded systems design. His research focuses on advanced control systems for autonomous vehicles, with a particular emphasis on spacecraft and satellite systems. This includes attitude control, guidance, navigation, and control for proximity operations, rendezvous and docking, and space robotics. He has supervised research at both master's and doctoral level across these areas.