Related papers: Co-optimization of spacecraft and low-thrust traje…
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…
The field of exoplanetary science has experienced a recent surge of new systems that is largely due to the precision photometry provided by the Kepler mission. The latest discoveries have included compact planetary systems in which the…
Recent successful lunar landing missions have generated significant interest among space agencies in establishing a permanent human settlement on the Moon. Building a lunar base requires multiple and frequent landing missions to support…
The power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells based on donor--acceptor blends is governed by an interplay of polaron pair dissociation and bimolecular polaron recombination. Both processes are strongly dependent on the charge…
Spacecraft relative motion planning is concerned with the design and execution of maneuvers relative to a nominal target. These types of maneuvers are frequently utilized in missions such as rendezvous and docking, satellite inspection and…
Solar sails enable missions to observe the solar environment from unique vantage points, such as sustained observations away from the Sun-Earth line; sub-L1 station keeping; high inclination solar orbits; Earth polar-sitting and…
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) techniques have developed rapidly within the past few decades. Using UAVs provides benefits in numerous applications such as site surveying, communication systems, parcel delivery, target tracking, etc. The…
Mobile relaying is emerged as a promising technique to assist wireless communication, driven by the rapid development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). In this paper, we study secure transmission in a four-node (source, destination,…
This paper presents a comparative study of the applicability and accuracy of optimal control methods and neural network-based estimators in the context of porkchop plots for preliminary asteroid rendezvous mission design. The scenario…
This study presents autonomous guidance and control strategies for the purpose of reconfiguring close-range multi-satellite formations. The formation under consideration includes $N$ under-actuated deputy satellites and an uncontrolled…
Recently, we witnessed how the synergy of small satellite technology and solar sailing propulsion enables new missions. Together, small satellites with lightweight instruments and solar sails offer affordable access to deep regions of the…
We show that dynamic coordination of distributed energy resources (DERs) can increase the capacity of low- and medium-voltage grids, improve reliability and power quality, and reduce solar curtailment. We develop three approaches to compute…
The authors describe the general motion of radiation-pushed sails accelerated near the speed of light with directed energy propulsion. Practical applications of the model are also given, including the interstellar flyby mission to the Alpha…
Decarbonizing aviation remains challenging because energy-dense jet fuels dominate beyond short-range operations, while batteries impose severe range and payload penalties. Here we evaluate a new infrastructure pathway in which…
The successes of previous and current Mars rovers have encouraged space agencies worldwide to pursue additional planetary exploration missions with more ambitious navigation goals. For example, NASA's planned Mars Sample Return mission will…
This study focuses on the energy optimization of industrial robotic cells, which is essential for sustainable production in the long term. A holistic approach that considers a robotic cell as a whole toward minimizing energy consumption is…
Drive modes are driver-selectable pre-set configurations of powertrain and certain vehicle parameters. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) typically feature special options of drive modes that can affect the hybrid energy source…
For real-time multirotor kinodynamic motion planning, the efficiency of sampling-based methods is usually hindered by difficult-to-sample homotopy classes like narrow passages. In this paper, we address this issue by a hybrid scheme. We…
Most navigation systems use data from satellites to provide drivers with the shortest-distance, shortest-time or highway-preferred paths. However, when the routing decisions are made for advanced vehicles, there are other factors affecting…
For unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) trajectory design, the total propulsion energy consumption and initial-final location constraints are practical factors to consider. However, unlike traditional offline designs, these two constraints are…