Related papers: SABAT: the "Sapienza" Balloon Trajectory Simulatio…
Stratospheric High Altitude Balloons (HABs) have great potential as a remote sensing platform for Earth Observations that complements orbiting satellites and low flying drones. At altitudes between 20-35 kms, HABs operate significantly…
We present the open-source Bayesian Atmospheric Radiative Transfer (BART) retrieval package, which produces estimates and uncertainties for an atmosphere's thermal profile and chemical abundances from observations. Several BART components…
Computational models are utilized in many scientific domains to simulate complex systems. Sensitivity analysis is an important practice to aid our understanding of the mechanics of these models and the processes they describe, but…
The recent increase in yearly spacecraft launches and the high number of planned launches have raised questions about maintaining accessibility to space for all interested parties. A key to sustaining the future of space-flight is the…
Numerical simulation of plasma turbulence in the Large Plasma Device (LAPD) [Gekelman et al, Rev. Sci. Inst., 62, 2875, 1991] is presented. The model, implemented in the BOUndary Turbulence (BOUT) code [M. Umansky et al, Contrib. Plasma…
This paper presents the Spinning Blimp, a novel lighter-than-air (LTA) aerial vehicle designed for low-energy stable flight. Utilizing an oblate spheroid helium balloon for buoyancy, the vehicle achieves minimal energy consumption while…
The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE) is a 6U NASA CubeSat carrying on-board a low-resolution (R~2000--3000), near-ultraviolet (2500--3300 {\AA}) spectrograph. It has a rectangular primary Cassegrain telescope to maximize the…
In multi-spectral images made by Earth observation satellites that use push-broom scanning, such as those operated by Planet Labs Corp., moving objects can be identified by the appearance of the object at a different locations in each…
Previous work by our group has shown the potential for an aerogravity assist at Triton using a trailing ballute to capture a probe into orbit about Neptune. The current work extends that study by using the LOFTID aeroshell configuration, a…
The study of quantum heat transport in superconducting circuits is significant for further understanding the connection between quantum mechanics and thermodynamics, and for possible applications for quantum information. The first…
A wavelet-based method for compression of three-dimensional simulation data is presented and its software framework is described. It uses wavelet decomposition and subsequent range coding with quantization suitable for floating-point data.…
The paper presents the design and qualification tests of an airborne experimental setup to determine cosmic ray-flux in the lower stratospheric regions of the earth's atmosphere. The concept of coincidence is implemented to preferentially…
This paper presents a method to control a manipulator system grasping a rigid-body payload so that the motion of the combined system in consequence of externally applied forces to be the same as another free-floating rigid-body (with…
Dark matter captured in stars can act as an additional heat transport mechanism, modifying fusion rates and asteroseismoloigcal observables. Calculations of heat transport rates rely on approximate solutions to the Boltzmann equation, which…
This paper develops a surrogate model refinement approach for the simulation of dynamical systems and the solution of optimization problems governed by dynamical systems in which surrogates replace expensive-to-compute state- and…
The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE) is a 6U NASA CubeSat carrying a low-resolution (R ~3000), near-ultraviolet (255 - 330nm) spectrograph fed by a rectangular primary Cassegrain. CUTE, is planned for launch in spring 2020 and…
This document describes the architecture and algorithms of a high fidelity fixed wing flight simulator intended to test and validate novel guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) algorithms for autonomous aircraft. It aims to replicate the…
This paper presents a method for guiding a robot manipulator to capture and bring a tumbling satellite to a state of rest. The proposed approach includes developing a coordination control for the combined system of the space robot and the…
UAVs equipped with a single depth camera encounter significant challenges in dynamic obstacle avoidance due to limited field of view and inevitable blind spots. While active vision strategies that steer onboard cameras have been proposed to…
Autonomous landing of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) in unknown, dynamic environments poses significant safety challenges, particularly near people and infrastructure, as UAVs transition to routine urban and rural operations. Existing…