Related papers: Removing Orbital Debris with Lasers
Approaching a tumbling target safely is a critical challenge in space debris removal missions utilizing robotic manipulators onboard servicing satellites. In this work, we propose a trajectory planning method based on nonlinear optimization…
Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) measurements are crucial for advanced exploration of the laws of fundamental gravitational physics and geophysics. Current LLR technology allows us to measure distances to the Moon with a precision approaching 1…
Laser plasma accelerators have the potential to reduce the size of future linacs for high energy physics by more than an order of magnitude, due to their high gradient. Research is in progress at current facilities, including the BELLA…
There is ever growing demand for satellite constellations that perform global positioning, remote sensing, earth-imaging and relay communication. In these highly prized orbits, there are many obsolete and abandoned satellites and components…
Large low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite networks are being built to provide low-latency broadband Internet access to a global subscriber base. In addition to network transmissions, researchers have proposed embedding compute resources in…
As part of the dynamical analysis carried out within the Horizon 2020 ReDSHIFT project, this work analyzes the possible strategies to guide low altitude satellites towards an atmospheric reentry through an impulsive maneuver. We consider a…
A multi-purpose low-earth-orbit system of rings circling the earth - the "LEO ARCHIPELAGO" - is proposed as a means of solving or bypassing many major problems hindering man's quest to get into space. A fiber-optic ring about the earth…
Laser-accelerated lightsails enable new types of missions that are very different from the Breakthrough Starshot mission to the Centauri system that aims to send 1 gram of payload at 0.2 c. The present work widens the mission design space…
A chaser satellite equipped with robotic arms can capture space debris and manipulate it for use in more advanced missions such as refueling and deorbiting. To facilitate capturing, a caging-based strategy has been proposed to simplify the…
Traffic systems are becoming increasingly automated. How will automated objects interact with non-automated objects? How will partially-automated systems handle large disruptions? Low-Earth orbit (LEO) -- filled with thousands of automated…
Field robotics in perceptually-challenging environments require fast and accurate state estimation, but modern LiDAR sensors quickly overwhelm current odometry algorithms. To this end, this paper presents a lightweight frontend LiDAR…
Small-satellites and CubeSats offer a low-cost pathway to access Low Earth Orbit at altitudes of 450 km and lower thanks to miniaturization and advancement in reliability of commercial electronics. However, at these low altitudes,…
While building up a catalog of Earth orbiting objects, if the available optical observations are sparse, not deliberate follow ups of specific objects, no orbit determination is possible without previous correlation of observations obtained…
As new large-scale astronomical surveys greatly increase the number of objects targeted and discoveries made, the requirement for efficient follow-up observations is crucial. Adaptive optics imaging, which compensates for the image-blurring…
Orbital debris is a constraint on the long-term health of any spacecraft and must be considered during mission planning. Varying mechanisms have been proposed to quantify the problem. Assessment of orbital debris employing ground-based…
Utilizing the Sparse Identification of Nonlinear Dynamics algorithm (SINDy) and Long Short-Term Memory Recurrent Neural Networks (LSTM), the population of resident space objects, divided into Active, Derelict, and Debris, in LEO can be…
We present the main findings of a dynamical mapping performed in the Low Earth Orbit region. The results were obtained by propagating an extended grid of initial conditions, considering two different epochs and area-to-mass ratios, by means…
Space exploration is of paramount importance to advancing fundamental science and providing global services, such as navigation and communications. However, today's space missions are hindered by limitations of existing propulsion…
A major threat to satellites is space debris with their low mass and high rotational speed. Accordingly, the short observation time of these objects is a major limitation in space research for appropriate detection and decision. As a…
Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite mega-constellations with hundreds or thousands of satellites and inter-satellite links (ISLs) have the potential to provide global end-to-end connectivity. Furthermore, if the physical distance between source…