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Deflecting an asteroid from an Earth impact trajectory requires only small velocity changes, typically of the order of microns per second, if done many years ahead of time. For this, a highly precise method of determining the need,…
We present methodology and mission results from orbit determination of Planet Labs nanosatellites and differential-drag control of their relative motion. Orbit determination (OD) is required on Planet Labs satellites to accurately predict…
The exponential increase in artificial satellites, growing from 852 in 2004 to over 9,000 in 2023, has intensified the risk of the Kessler Syndrome: a cascading chain reaction of orbital collisions. This paper analyzes the dynamics of space…
A concept for forced reentry of small orbital debris with characteristic dimension ~ 10 cm from the highly populated sun synchronous orbit by injecting micron scale dust grains to artificially enhance drag is discussed. The drag enhancement…
It is known, that possibility to capture on a satellite orbit is decreased with primary orbital eccentricity increasing. It means, that satellites of planet on eccentric orbit are less stable. We study problem by analytical and numeric…
Gaps in space weather observations that can be addressed with small satellites are identified. Potential improvements in solar inputs to space weather models, space radiation control, estimations of energy budget of the upper Earth's…
Manipulating deformable objects arises in daily life and numerous applications. Despite phenomenal advances in industrial robotics, manipulation of deformable objects remains mostly a manual task. This is because of the high number of…
LEO Satellite Networks (LSNs) are revolutionizing global connectivity, but their reliance on tens of thousands of satellites raises pressing concerns over sustainability and survivability. In this work, we argue that the inefficiencies in…
This study focuses on attitude and control motion of two bodies (a base-satellite and a sub-satellite) connected by an inextensible and massless tether in a circular orbit under the influence of the Earths gravitational force. The…
We consider geometric collision-detection problems for modular reconfigurable robots. Assuming the nodes (modules) are connected squares on a grid, we investigate the complexity of deciding whether collisions may occur, or can be avoided,…
This article aims to highlight the impact for ground based astronomical observations in different windows of the electromagnetic spectrum coming from the deployment of fleets of telecommunications satellites. A particular attention is given…
Irregular satellites are the minor bodies found orbiting all four Solar System giant planets, with large semi-major axes, eccentricities, and inclinations. Previous studies have determined that the Solar System's irregular satellites are…
Binary asteroid formation is a highly complex process, which has been highlighted with recent observations of satellites with unexpected shapes, such as the oblate Dimorphos by the NASA DART mission and the contact binary Selam by NASA's…
Summary: In the past decade both scientists and laymen have probably heard at least once through the newspapers, TV and Internet that a new asteroid has been discovered with non-zero (sometimes "high") probability of collision with the…
Obstacle avoidance is a key feature for safe Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) navigation. While solutions have been proposed for static obstacle avoidance, systems enabling avoidance of dynamic objects, such as drones, are hard to implement…
This work presents a novel method for leveraging intercepted Radio Frequency (RF) signals to inform a constrained Reinforcement Learning (RL) policy for robust control of a satellite operating in contested environments. Uncooperative…
Neglecting small fragments in space debris evolutionary models can lead to a significant underestimation of the collision risk for operational satellites. However, when scaling down to the millimeter range, the debris population grows to…
Obstacle avoidance is an important task in the field of robotics, since the goal of autonomous robot is to reach the destination without collision. Several algorithms have been proposed for obstacle avoidance, having drawbacks and benefits.…
We study the planar problem of two satellites attracted by a center of force. Assuming that the center of mass of the two-satellite system is on a circular orbit around the center of force and using Levi-Civita regularization we prove the…
Near Earth Asteroids have a possibility of impacting with the Earth and always have a thread on the Earth. This paper proposes a way of changing the trajectory of the asteroid to avoid the impaction. Solar sail evolving in a H-reversal…