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We study the drag force on dust grains moving at relativistic velocities through interstellar gas and explore its application. First, we derive a new analytical formula of the drag force at high energies and find that it is significantly…
Two new interplanetary technologies have advanced in the past decade to the point where they may enable exciting, affordable missions that reach further and faster deep into the outer regions of our solar system: (i) small and capable…
Aerocapture is a maneuver which uses aerodynamic drag to slow down a spacecraft in a single pass through the atmosphere. All planetary orbiters to date have used propulsive orbit insertion. Aerocapture is a promising alternative, especially…
Nanosatellites are proliferating as low-cost dedicated sensing systems with lean development cycles. Kyushu Institute of Technology and collaborators have launched a joint venture for a nanosatellite mission, VERTECS. The primary mission is…
Current research focuses on designing fast trajectories to the trans-Neptunian object (TNO) (90377) Sedna to study the surface and composition from a close range. Studying Sedna from a close distance can provide unique data about the Solar…
Directly imaging Earth-like exoplanets (``exoEarths'') with a coronagraph instrument on a space telescope requires a stable wavefront with optical path differences limited to tens of picometers RMS during exposure times of a few hours.…
SuperBIT was a 0.5-meter near-ultraviolet to near-infrared wide-field telescope that launched on a NASA superpressure balloon into the stratosphere from New Zealand for a 45-night flight. SuperBIT acquired multi-band images of galaxy…
Photonic technologies offer numerous advantages for astronomical instruments such as spectrographs and interferometers owing to their small footprints and diverse range of functionalities. Operating at the diffraction-limit, it is…
We present a novel laser based ion acceleration scheme, where a petawatt circularly polarized laser pulse is shot on an ultra-thin (nano-scale) double-layer target. Our scheme allows the production of high-quality light ion beams with both…
Interstellar objects (ISOs) represent a compelling and under-explored category of celestial bodies, providing physical laboratories to understand the formation of our solar system and probe the composition and properties of material formed…
We study the horizontal transport of ultracold atoms over macroscopic distances of up to 20 cm with a moving 1D optical lattice. By using an optical Bessel beam to form the optical lattice, we can achieve nearly homogeneous trapping…
This paper presents a computationally efficient optimization algorithm for solving nonconvex optimal control problems that involve discrete logic constraints. Traditional solution methods for these constraints require binary variables and…
One-dimensional Airy beams allow the generation of thin light-sheets without scanning, simplifying the complex optical arrangements of light-sheet microscopes (LSM) with an extended field-of-view (FOV). However, their uniaxial acceleration…
The solar gravitational lens (SGL) offers unique capabilities for high-resolution imaging of faint, distant objects, such as exoplanets. In the near future, a spacecraft carrying a meter-class telescope with a solar coronagraph would be…
Gravitational slingshots around a neutron star in a compact binary have been proposed as a means of accelerating large masses to potentially relativistic speeds. Such a slingshot is attractive since fuel is not expended for the…
This paper presents a computationally efficient method for the optimal design of silica aerogel porous material systems, balancing thermal insulation performance with mechanical stability under stress concentrations. The proposed approach…
In the pursuit of sustainable manufacturing, ultra-short pulse laser micromachining stands out as a promising solution while also offering high-precision and qualitative laser processing. However, unlocking the full potential of ultra-short…
Proxima Centauri, our closest stellar neighbour, is a low-mass M5 dwarf orbiting in a triple system. An Earth-mass planet with an 11 day period has been discovered around this star. The star's mass has been estimated only indirectly using a…
In the nearly 60 years of spaceflight we have accomplished wonderful feats of exploration that have shown the incredible spirit of the human drive to explore and understand our universe. Yet in those 60 years we have barely left our solar…
We present the weak gravitational lensing dataset from the Super-pressure Balloon-Borne Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT), which imaged 30 galaxy clusters during its 45 night flight in April to May 2023. SuperBIT is a first-of-its-kind…