Related papers: Developing and implementing a CubeSat's equations …
Attitude control hardware for small satellites is often limited in power and space availability given the importance of the science instruments they exist to transport. To mitigate this, a dual-spin stabilized satellite actuated via…
Previous work by our group has shown the potential for an aerogravity assist at Triton using a trailing ballute to capture a probe into orbit about Neptune. The current work extends that study by using the LOFTID aeroshell configuration, a…
Since the early 2000' years, the CubeSats have been growing and getting more and more "space" in the Space industry. Their short development schedule, low cost equipment and piggyback launches create a new way to access the space, provide…
Due to the advancement of nano-satellite technology, CubeSats and fleets of CubeSats can form an alternative to high-cost large-size satellite missions with the advantage of extended spatial coverage. One of these initiatives is the…
Rotational dynamics often challenge physical intuition while enabling unique realizations, from the rotor of a gyroscope that maintains its orientation regardless of the outer gimbals, to a tennis racket that rotates around its handle when…
In the event of a total loss of thrust, a pilot must identify a reachable landing site and subsequently execute a forced landing. To do so, they must estimate which region on the ground can be reached safely in gliding flight. We call this…
The E and B experiment (EBEX) is a balloon-borne telescope designed to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background with 8' resolution employing a gondola scanning with speeds of order degree per second. In January 2013, EBEX…
Since the MICROSCOPE instrument aims to measure accelerations as low as a few 10$^{-15}$\,m\,s$^{-2}$ and cannot operate on ground, it was obvious to have a large time dedicated to its characterization in flight. After its release and first…
This paper explores expressing the relative state in the close-proximity satellite relative motion problem in terms of fundamental solution constants. The nominal uncontrolled relative state can be expressed in terms of a weighted sum of…
Flow visualisations are essential to better understand the unsteady aerodynamics of flapping wing flight. The issues inherent to animal experiments, such as poor controllability and unnatural flapping when tethered, can be avoided by using…
State estimation and control is a well-studied problem in conventional aerial vehicles such as multi-rotors. But multi-rotors, while versatile, are not suitable for all applications. Due to turbulent airflow from ground effects,…
We have developed a low-cost off-the-shelf component star sensor (StarSense) for use in minisatellites and CubeSats to determine the attitude of a satellite in orbit. StarSense is an imaging camera with a limiting magnitude of 6.5, which…
This paper presents a mission concept that enables Earth-Mars communications resistant to periods of solar conjunction by using CubeSat satellites equipped with a solar sail. The dynamics of the satellite is modeled separately in the…
In-flight objects capture is extremely challenging. The robot is required to complete trajectory prediction, interception position calculation and motion planning in sequence within tens of milliseconds. As in-flight uneven objects are…
This article solves an optimal control problem arising in attitude control of a spacecraft under state and control constraints. We first derive the discrete-time attitude dynamics by employing discrete mechanics. The orientation transfer,…
In this paper, we present a full attitude control of an efficient quadrotor tail-sitter VTOL UAV with flexible modes. This control system is working in all flight modes without any control surfaces but motor differential thrusts. This paper…
This paper proposes a control algorithm for a UAV to circumnavigate an unknown target at a fixed radius when the location information of the UAV is unavailable. By assuming that the UAV has a constant velocity, the control algorithm makes…
Model rockets have been employed in student projects, but very few papers in aerospace education offer concise summaries of activities at university-course levels. This paper aims to address this gap in the literature. The rockets used by…
The impact forces during switching operations of short-stroke actuators may cause bouncing, audible noise and mechanical wear. The application of soft-landing control strategies to these devices aims at minimizing the impact velocities of…
Over the several decades, the space debris at LEO has grown rapidly which had caused a serious threat to the operating satellite in an orbit. To avoid the risk of collision and protect the LEO environment, the space robotics ADR concept has…