Related papers: Mid-Air Helicopter Delivery at Mars Using a Jetpac…
Mid-Air Deployment (MAD) of a rotorcraft during Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) on Mars eliminates the need to carry a propulsion or airbag landing system. This reduces the total mass inside the aeroshell by more than 100 kg and simplifies…
Performing orbital insertion around Mars using aerocapture instead of a propulsive orbit insertion manoeuvre allows to save resources and/or increase the payload mass fraction. Aerocapture has never been employed to date because of the high…
Landing robotic spacecrafts and humans on Mars has become one of the inevitable technological necessities for humans. Effectuating perfect Mars expedition requires landing of enormous cargoes, crewed modules, ascent vehicles, and scientific…
This paper presents a novel magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) system for planetary entry aerocapture. The system is advantaged over previous approaches by having the following two characteristics: (i) it can be deployed locally to one or various…
The application of directed energy to spacecraft mission design is explored using rapid transit to Mars as the design objective. An Earth-based laser array of unprecedented size (10~m diameter) and power (100~MW) is assumed to be enabled by…
Mars has been a prime candidate for planetary exploration of the solar system because of the science discoveries that support chances of future habitation on this planet. Martian caves and lava tubes like terrains, which consists of uneven…
A novel concept of orbital launch system in which all stages are reusable is presented. The first two stages called Midpoint Delivery System (MPDS) deliver the next stages to a midpoint. A midpoint is defined by an altitude of 100 $km$ to…
Attempts to use Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) flow for propulsion have been made since the last century [1]. Limited success has been registered particularly due to the inhomogeneous generation of the thrust, and also the very light weight and…
Autonomous aerial vehicles, such as NASA's Ingenuity, enable rapid planetary surface exploration beyond the reach of ground-based robots. Thus, NASA is studying a Mars Science Helicopter (MSH), an advanced concept capable of performing…
Given the increasing need for large aperture antennas in space missions, the difficulty of fitting such structures into small launch vehicles has prompted the design of deployable antenna systems. The thesis introduces a new Triple Scissors…
To date, insect scale robots capable of controlled flight have used flapping wings for generating lift, but this requires a complex and failure-prone mechanism. A simpler alternative is electrohydrodynamic (EHD) thrust, which requires no…
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…
Any rotorcraft on Mars will fly in a low pressure and dusty environment. It is well known that helicopters on Earth become highly-charged due, in part, to triboelectric effects when flying in sandy conditions. We consider the possibility…
The Gravity Assisted Maneuver has been applied in lots of space missions, to change the spacecraft heliocentric velocity vector and the geometry of the orbit, after the close approach to a celestial body, saving propellant consumption. It…
The Mars Science Helicopter (MSH) mission aims to deploy the next generation of unmanned helicopters on Mars, targeting landing sites in highly irregular terrain such as Valles Marineris, the largest canyons in the Solar system with…
Modular Aerial Robot Systems (MARS) comprise multiple drone units with reconfigurable connected formations, providing high adaptability to diverse mission scenarios, fault conditions, and payload capacities. However, existing control…
The ability to launch small secondary payloads to Mars on future science missions present an exciting opportunity for demonstration of advanced technologies for planetary exploration such as aerocapture. Over the years, several aerocapture…
The rising aging population has increased the importance of fall detection (FD) systems as an assistive technology, where deep learning techniques are widely applied to enhance accuracy. FD systems typically use edge devices (EDs) worn by…
Challenging space missions include those at very low altitudes, where the atmosphere is source of aerodynamic drag on the spacecraft. To extend the lifetime of such missions, an efficient propulsion system is required. One solution is…
Laminar--turbulent transition remains a major uncertainty in the aerothermal design of entry, descent, and landing (EDL) vehicles. We show that, under high-enthalpy Mars-entry conditions, the detached bow shock and shock-generated…