Related papers: Modelling a CubeSat-based Space Mission and its Op…

Satellites and other complex systems now become more and more software dependent. Even nanosatellites have complexity that can be compared to scientific instruments launched to Mars. COTS components and subsystems may now be purchased to…

Small satellite communications recently entered a period of massive interest driven by the uprising space applications. CubeSats are particularly attractive due to their low development costs which makes them very promising in playing a…

The undergraduate-led Polarization-modUlated Laser Satellite Experiment (PULSE-A) at the University of Chicago seeks to demonstrate the feasibility of circular polarization shift keyed satellite-to-ground laser communication. PULSE-A's…

CubeSat-based nanosatellites are composed of COTS components and rely on its structure and standardized interfaces. A challenge in the nanosatellites context is to adapt the V\&V (Verification and Validation) process to answer to the…

Exploration of terrestrial planets such as Mars are conducted using orbiters, landers and rovers. Cameras and instruments onboard orbiters have enabled global mapping of Mars at low spatial resolution. Landers and rovers such as the Mars…

Onboard autonomy technologies such as planning and scheduling, identification of scientific targets, and content-based data summarization, will lead to exciting new space science missions. However, the challenge of operating missions with…

In this paper, a practical approach to the trajectory design for asteroid exploration missions with CubeSats is presented. When applied trajectories are sought, operative concerns and uncertainties affecting the spacecraft dynamics must be…

This paper explores the application of Vision-Language Models (VLMs) as operator agents in the space domain, focusing on both software and hardware operational paradigms. Building on advances in Large Language Models (LLMs) and their…

The wide availability of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) electronics that can withstand Low Earth Orbit conditions has opened avenue for wide deployment of CubeSats and small-satellites. CubeSats thanks to their low developmental and launch…

An approach towards wireless ranging and synchronization using commercial of-the-shelf software-defined radio payloads for small satellites, esp. CubeSats is studied. The approach only relies on the programmable logic configuration and…

Space observatories for gravitational radiation such as LISA are equipped with dedicated on-board instrumentation capable of measuring magnetic fields with low-noise conditions at millihertz frequencies. The reason is that the core…

Cyber-physical space systems are engineered systems operating within physical space with design requirements that depend on space, e.g., regarding location or movement behavior. They are built from and depend upon the seamless integration…

Sensitive computation often has to be performed in a trusted execution environment (TEE), which, in turn, requires tamper-proof hardware. If the computational fabric can be tampered with, we may no longer be able to trust the correctness of…

Thorough simulation testing is crucial for validating the correct behavior of small Uncrewed Aerial Systems (sUAS) across multiple scenarios, including adverse weather conditions (such as wind, and fog), diverse settings (hilly terrain, or…

The recent, rapid advancement in space exploration is thanks to the accelerated miniaturization of electronics components on a spacecraft that is reducing the mass, volume and cost of satellites. Yet, access to space remains a distant dream…

Earth observation (EO) missions traditionally rely on transmitting raw or minimally processed imagery from satellites to ground stations for computationally intensive analysis. This paradigm is infeasible for CubeSat systems due to…

This paper presents a nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode-based adaptive smooth control methodology for a distributed space telescope demonstration mission. The distributed space telescope has a flexible focal length that corresponds to…

The Lunar Gateway is expected to be positioned on-orbit around the Moon or in a Halo orbit at the L2 Lagrange point. The proposed Lunar Gateway is a game-changer for enabling new, high-priority lunar science utilizing Cu-beSats and presents…

We present MauveSim, the instrument simulator software for Mauve, the latest mission from Blue Skies Space dedicated to time-domain stellar astronomy. MauveSim functions as an end-to-end simulator, employing the most up-to-date knowledge of…

Foundation Models (FMs), e.g., large language models, possess attributes of intelligence which offer promise to endow a robot with the contextual understanding necessary to navigate complex, unstructured tasks in the wild. We see three core…