Related papers: Autonomous orbit determination for satelite format…
The geometric calibration of the Planck satellite using the planetary transits is investigated, together with the reconstruction of any offsets from the nominal layout of the focal plane. The methods presented here may be applied to a…
This paper investigates optimal fiducial marker placement on the surface of a satellite performing relative proximity operations with an observer satellite. The absolute and relative translation and attitude equations of motion for the…
The trajectory of an interplanetary spacecraft can be used to test gravitation in the Solar System. Its determination relies on radio tracking and is limited by the uncertainty on the spacecraft non-gravitational acceleration. The addition…
We review two initial orbit determination methods for too short arcs (TSAs) of optical observations of a solar system body. These methods employ the conservation laws of Kepler's problem, and allow to attempt the linkage of TSAs referring…
Close planetary flybys are frequently employed as a technique to place spacecraft on extreme solar system trajectories that would otherwise require much larger booster vehicles or may not even be feasible when relying solely on chemical…
This paper introduces a novel method using chaser spacecraft image processing and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to detect structural markers on the European Space Agency's (ESA) Environmental Satellite (ENVISAT) for safe de-orbiting.…
Planetary exploration increasingly relies on autonomous robotic systems capable of perceiving, interpreting, and reconstructing their surroundings in the absence of global positioning or real-time communication with Earth. Rovers operating…
This study presents an autonomous orbit determination system based on crosslink radiometric measurements applied to a future lunar CubeSat mission to clearly highlight its advantages with respect to existing ground-based navigation…
This paper deals with the impulsive formation control of spacecraft in the presence of constraints on the position vector and time. Determining a set of path constraints can increase the safety and reliability in an impulsive relative…
We discuss the in-flight autonomous assembly as the means to build advanced planetary science payloads to explore the outer regions of the solar system. These payloads are robotically constructed from modular parts delivered by a group of…
Given the critical roles that satellites play in national defense, public safety, and worldwide communications, finding ways to determine satellite trajectories is a crucially important task for improved space situational awareness.…
Despite numerous successful missions to small celestial bodies, the gravity field of such targets has been poorly characterized so far. Gravity estimates can be used to infer the internal structure and composition of small bodies and, as…
The problem of determination of the orbital velocity of an astrometric satellite from its own observational data is studied. It is well known that data processing of microarcsecond-level astrometric observations imposes very stringent…
In this paper, a surface geometric constraint approach is used in designing the orbits of a solar sail. We solve the solar sail equation of motion by obtaining a generalized Laplace-Runge-Lenz (LRL) vector with the assumption that the cone…
Conventional autonomous Unmanned Air Vehicle (abbr. UAV) autopilot systems use Global Navigation Satellite System (abbr. GNSS) signal for navigation. However, autopilot systems fail to navigate due to lost or jammed GNSS signal. To solve…
Standalone Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are known to provide positioning accuracy of a few meters in open sky conditions. This accuracy can drop significantly when the line-of-sight (LOS) paths to some GNSS satellites are…
We present planning challenges, methods and preliminary results for a new model-based paradigm for earth observing systems in adaptive remote sensing. Our heuristically guided constraint optimization planner produces coordinated plans for…
We investigate a scenario where a chaser spacecraft or satellite equipped with a monocular camera navigates in close proximity to a target spacecraft. The satellite's primary objective is to construct a representation of the operational…
To help future mobile agents plan their movement in harsh environments,a predictive model has been designed to determine what areas would be favorable for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning. The model is able to predict…
On-board estimation of the pose of an uncooperative target spacecraft is an essential task for future on-orbit servicing and close-proximity formation flying missions. However, two issues hinder reliable on-board monocular vision based pose…