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It is widely assumed that human exploration beyond Earth's orbit will require vehicles capable of providing long-duration habitats that simulate an Earthlike environment: consistent artificial gravity, breathable atmosphere, and sufficient…
Background: As traditional coding tasks in education become increasingly vulnerable to the use of Generative AI, there is a critical need for authentic, project-based assessments that evaluate students' scientific inquiry. To address this…
State estimation and control is a well-studied problem in conventional aerial vehicles such as multi-rotors. But multi-rotors, while versatile, are not suitable for all applications. Due to turbulent airflow from ground effects,…
Seventy-five billion low-mass stars in our galaxy host at least one small planet in their habitable zone (HZ). The stellar ultraviolet (UV) radiation received by the planets is strong and highly variable, and has consequences for…
The Europlanet 2020 Research Infrastructure will include new Planetary Space Weather Services (PSWS) that will extend the concepts of space weather and space situational awareness to other planets in our Solar System and in particular to…
Technology integration in educational settings has led to the development of novel sensor-based tools that enable students to measure and interact with their environment. Although reports from using such tools can be positive, evaluations…
During the last decades the industry has seen the number of Earth orbiting satellites rise, mostly due to the need to monitor Earth as well as to establish global communication networks. Nano, micro, and small satellites have been a prime…
Maneuverable tether-net systems launched from an unmanned spacecraft offer a promising solution for the active removal of large space debris. Guaranteeing the successful capture of such space debris is dependent on the ability to reliably…
Theory and computations are provided for building of optimal (minimum weight) solid space towers (mast) up to one hundred kilometers in height. These towers can be used for tourism; scientific observation of space, observation of the Earth…
Stratospheric balloons have emerged as an affordable and flexible alternative to traditional spacecrafts as they are implemented using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment without following strict methodologies. HERCCULES is a…
Drones provide a versatile platform for remote sensing and atmospheric studies. However, strict payload mass limits and intense vibrations have proven obstacles to adoption for astronomy. We present a concept for system-level testing of a…
The development and deployment of machine learning systems can be executed easily with modern tools, but the process is typically rushed and means-to-an-end. The lack of diligence can lead to technical debt, scope creep and misaligned…
System, design and methodology to load and dispense different articles from an autonomous aircraft are disclosed. In one embodiment, the design of a unique detachable dispenser for delivery of articles is described along with an intelligent…
We describe and analyze a distributed compute architecture for SSO computational satellites that can potentially provide >100 kW compute power per launched metric ton (including deployment and station keeping mass). The architecture…
Air components, including UAVs, planes, balloons, and satellites have been widely utilized since the fixed capacity of ground infrastructure cannot meet the dynamic load of the users. However, since those air components should be…
Given the increasing need for large aperture antennas in space missions, the difficulty of fitting such structures into small launch vehicles has prompted the design of deployable antenna systems. The thesis introduces a new Triple Scissors…
A didactic multiscale approach for drone modeling is proposed. Specifically, we investigate the drone structure at both macroscopic and microscopic scales, by making use of finite element and atomistic simulations, respectively. The…
Electrospray thrusters are emerging as a leading propulsion technology for CubeSats, offering high specific impulse ($I_{sp} > 1000$ s) and low power requirements. However, the divergent ion plumes can impinge on spacecraft surfaces,…
The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated the critical need for flexible mechanical engineering laboratories simultaneously deployable in multiple modalities: face-to-face, hybrid, and remote. A key element in the lesson portfolio of a…
The CUbesat Solar Polarimeter (CUSP) project aims to develop a constellation of two CubeSats orbiting the Earth to measure the linear polarization of solar flares in the hard X-ray band by means of a Compton scattering polarimeter on board…