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The Chasing All Transients Constellation Hunters (CATCH) space mission plans to launch three types of micro-satellites (A, B, and C). The type-B CATCH satellites are dedicated to locating transients and detecting their time-dependent energy…
An outstanding, multi-disciplinary goal of modern science is the study of the diversity of potentially Earth-like planets and the search for life in them. This goal requires a bold new generation of space telescopes, but even the most…
An air-to-ground free-space optical communication system has been designed and partially developed. The design covers both the communications between the airborne and the ground station, and the acquisition, tracking and pointing. A strong…
We present our proposal for a small X-ray mission DIOS (Diffuse Intergalactic Oxygen Surveyor), consisting of a 4-stage X-ray telescope and an array of TES microcalorimeters, cooled with mechanical coolers, with a total weight of about 400…
Aerospace technologies are crucial for modern civilization; space-based infrastructure underpins weather forecasting, communications, terrestrial navigation and logistics, planetary observations, solar monitoring, and other indispensable…
Light-in-flight (LiF) measurements enable the visualization of light paths through arbitrary, volumetric scenes, making light-matter interactions at ultrafast timescales visible. Traditionally, LiF measurements require specialized…
Application of cubesats in astronomical observations has been getting more and more mature in recent years. Here we report a concept study of a small Compton polarimeter to fly on a cubesat for observing polarization of soft gamma-rays from…
Satellite imaging is a critical technology for monitoring and responding to natural disasters such as flooding. Despite the capabilities of modern satellites, there is still much to be desired from the perspective of first response…
In-space manufacturing technologies are vital for enabling advanced space missions and addressing logistical limitations of space exploration. While additive manufacturing has progressed rapidly, it still falls short of delivering the…
A significant and growing portion of systematic error on a number of fundamental parameters in astrophysics and cosmology is due to uncertainties from absolute photometric and flux standards. A path toward achieving major reduction in such…
The number of small satellites has grown dramatically in the past decade from tens of satellites per year in the mid-2010s to a projection of tens of thousands in orbit by the mid-2020s. This presents both problems and opportunities for…
Selected by NASA for an Astrophysics Science SmallSat study, The Virtual Telescope for X-Ray Observations (VTXO) is a small satellite mission being developed by NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and New Mexico State University…
The accuracy of astrometric observations conducted via a space-borne optical interferometer orbiting the Earth is expected to approach a few microarcseconds. Data processing of such extremely high-precision measurements requires access to a…
The concept for space interferometry from Polar or Equatorial Circular Medium Earth Orbits (the PECMEO concept) is a promising way to acquire the image of the "shadow" of the event horizon of Sagittarius A* with an angular resolution of…
A mid-infrared nulling-space interferometer is a promising way to characterize thermal light from habitable planet candidates around Sun-like stars. However, one of the main challenges for achieving this ambitious goal is a high-precision…
Inter satellite laser interferometry is a central component of future space-borne gravity instruments like LISA, eLISA, NGO and future geodesy missions. The inherently small laser wavelength allows to measure distance variations with…
Exoplanets mass measurements will be a critical next step to assess the habitability of Earth-like planets: a key aspect of the 2020 vision in the previous decadal survey and also central to NASA's strategic priorities. Precision astrometry…
For sensitive infrared interferometry, it is crucial to control the differential piston evolution between the used telescopes. This is classically done by the use of a fringe tracker. In this work, we develop a new method to reconstruct the…
Space debris is a major threat to the satellite infrastructure. A collision with even small particle, e.g. 1 cm of size, can cause a catastrophic event when the parent body, spacecraft or upper stage, will break up into hundreds of…
The discovery of X-ray emission from cosmic sources in the 1960s has opened a new powerful observing window on the Universe. In fact, the exploration of the X-ray sky during the 70s-90s has established X-ray astronomy as a fundamental field…