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A fleet of nanosatellites using precise timing synchronization provided by the Global Positioning System is a new concept for monitoring the gamma-ray sky that can achieve both all-sky coverage and good localization accuracy. We are…
Deciding on appropriate materials and designs for use in light sails, like the one proposed in the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative, is a topic that requires much care and forethought. Here, we offer a feasible option in the form of…
Leveraging advancements in micro-scale technology, we propose a fleet of autonomous, low-cost, small solar sails for interplanetary exploration. The Berkeley Low-cost Interplanetary Solar Sail (BLISS) project aims to utilize small-scale…
This article investigates the stability of 'laser sail'-style spacecraft constructed from dielectric metasurfaces with areal densities $<$1g/m$^2$. We show that the microscopic optical forces exerted on a metasurface by a high power laser…
The scientific interest in directly image and identifying Earth-like planets within the Habitable Zone (HZ) around nearby stars is driving the design of specialized direct imaging mission such as ACESAT, EXO-C, EXO-S and AFTA-C. The inner…
I show that a gravitational slingshot using a stellar-mass black hole (BH) orbiting SgrA* could launch robotic spacecraft toward M31 at $0.1\,c$, a speed that is ultimately limited by the tensile strength of steel and the BH mass, here…
Space missions that use low-thrust propulsion technology are becoming increasingly popular since they utilize propellant more efficiently and thus reduce mission costs. However, optimizing continuous-thrust trajectories is complex,…
Electric sails are propulsion systems that generate momentum via the deflection of stellar wind particles through electric forces. Here, we investigate the relative merits of electric sails and light sails driven by stellar radiation…
Starshades are a leading technology to enable the direct detection and spectroscopic characterization of Earth-like exoplanets. To keep the starshade and telescope aligned over large separations, reliable sensing of the peak of the…
The NASA program in X-ray astronomy has two long term goals: 1) to achieve sufficient angular resolution to image the event horizon of a black hole (0.1 micro arc sec) and 2) to achieve sufficient collecting area (50-150 sq m) and angular…
The dynamics of the acceleration of ultrathin foil targets by the radiation pressure of superintense, circularly polarized laser pulses is investigated by analytical modeling and particle-in-cell simulations. By addressing self-induced…
A propulsion concept in which a spacecraft interacts with high-velocity pellets and the interstellar medium is proposed. The pellets are slower than the spacecraft and are accelerated backwards as they are overtaken, imparting a forward…
The Superpressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT) is a diffraction-limited, wide-field, 0.5 m, near-infrared to near-ultraviolet observatory designed to exploit the stratosphere's space-like conditions. SuperBIT's 2023 science…
This paper presents a methodology for the concurrent first-stage preliminary design and ascent trajectory optimization, with application to a Vega-derived Light Launch Vehicle. The reuse as first stage of an existing upper-stage (Zefiro 40)…
A key challenge for starshades is formation flying. To successfully image exoplanets, the telescope boresight and starshade must be aligned to ~1 m at separations of tens of thousands of kilometers. This challenge has two parts: first, the…
PicSat is a nanosatellite developed to observe the transit of the giant planet beta Pictoris b, expected in late 2017. Its science objectives are: the observation of the transit of the giant planet's Hill sphere, the detection of exocomets…
This paper presents a convex programming approach to the optimization of a multistage launch vehicle ascent trajectory, from the liftoff to the payload injection into the target orbit, taking into account multiple nonconvex constraints,…
With the increasing brightness of Light sources, including the Diffraction-Limited brightness upgrade of APS and the high-repetition-rate upgrade of LCLS, the proposed experiments therein are becoming increasingly complex. For instance,…
With interstellar mission concepts now being under study by various space agencies and institutions, a feasible and worthy interstellar precursor mission concept will be key to the success of the long shot. Here we investigate…
This paper proposes a systematic method for generating practical and robust low-thrust spacecraft trajectories. One contribution is to consider the change in mass of the spacecraft at two levels: a) the propulsive acceleration and b) the…