Related papers: Starling Formation-Flying Optical Experiment: Init…
The impact of large-scale constellations of satellites, is a concern for ground-based astronomers. In recent years there has been a significant increase in the number of satellites in Low-Earth Orbit and this trend is set to continue. The…
The accuracy of position measurements on stellar targets with the future Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) will be limited not only by photon noise and by the properties of the instrument (design, stability, etc.) and the overall…
The vision-based relative localization can provide effective feedback for the cooperation of aerial swarm and has been widely investigated in previous works. However, the limited field of view (FOV) inherently restricts its performance. To…
In the coming decade, a new generation of massively multiplexed spectroscopic surveys, such as PFS, WAVES, and MOONS, will probe galaxies in the distant universe in vastly greater numbers than was previously possible. In this work, we…
The Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS) is a NASA-funded astrophysics mission, devoted to the study of the ultraviolet (UV) time-domain behavior in low-mass stars. Given their abundance and size, low-mass stars are important…
A key challenge for starshades is formation flying. To successfully image exoplanets, the telescope boresight and starshade must be aligned to ~1 m at separations of tens of thousands of kilometers. This challenge has two parts: first, the…
We describe the optical alignment method for the Prime-focus Infrared Microlensing Experiment (PRIME) telescope which is a prime-focus near-infrared (NIR) telescope with a wide field of view for the microlensing planet survey toward the…
We present a new technique for monitoring microlensing activity even in highly crowded fields, and use this technique to place limits on low-mass MACHOs in the haloes of M31 and the Galaxy. Unlike present Galactic microlensing surveys, we…
We present the first decentralized multi-copter flock that performs stable autonomous outdoor flight with up to 10 flying agents. By decentralized and autonomous we mean that all members navigate themselves based on the dynamic information…
Balloon-borne astronomy offers an attractive option for experiments that require precise pointing and attitude stabilization, due to a large reduction in the atmospheric interference observed by ground-based systems as well as the low-cost…
Seventy-five billion low-mass stars in our galaxy host at least one small planet in their habitable zone (HZ). The stellar ultraviolet (UV) radiation received by the planets is strong and highly variable, and has consequences 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…
Starlink is a low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation operated by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) which aims to provide global satellite internet access. Thus far, most photometric observations of Starlink satellites…
The integration of satellite communication into mobile devices represents a paradigm shift in connectivity, yet the performance characteristics under motion and environmental occlusion remain poorly understood. We present the Starlink…
Relative state estimation is crucial for vision-based swarms to estimate and compensate for the unavoidable drift of visual odometry. For autonomous drones equipped with the most compact sensor setting -- a stereo camera that provides a…
CubeSats have become a meaningful option for deep-space exploration, but their autonomy must be increased to maximize the science return while limiting the complexity in operations. We present here a solution for an autonomous orbit…
The study of strong-lensing systems conventionally involves constructing a mass distribution that can reproduce the observed multiply-imaging properties. Such mass reconstructions are generically non-unique. Here, we present an alternative…
{The observatory control system (OCS), a part of automated control of Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), runs on the CentOS6 platform and implements the communication between modules based on Common Object…
The far-infrared (FIR) is one of the few wavelength ranges where no astronomical data with sub-arcsec resolution exist yet. Neither of the medium-term satellite projects like SPICA, Millimetron or OST will resolve this malady. Information…
The robustness and accuracy of a vision system for motion estimation of a tumbling target satellite are enhanced by an adaptive Kalman filter. This allows a vision-guided robot to complete the grasping of the target even if occlusion occurs…