Related papers: Autonomous optical navigation for DESTINY+: Enhanc…
The nature and physical properties of asteroids, in particular those orbiting in the near-Earth space, are of scientific interest and practical importance. Exoplanet surveys can be excellent resources to detect asteroids, both already known…
This study evaluates a technique for determining the mass of a potentially hazardous asteroid from a high-speed flyby in the context of a rapid reconnaissance planetary defense scenario. We consider a host spacecraft that dispenses a small…
We present a unique implementation of Python coding in an asynchronous object-oriented programming (OOP) framework to fully automate the process of collecting data with the George Mason University (GMU) Observatory's 0.8-meter telescope.…
A new method to track the motion of a single particle in the field of a high-finesse optical resonator is described. It exploits near-degenerate higher-order Gaussian cavity modes, whose symmetry is broken by the phase shift on the light…
For intelligent quadcopter UAVs, a robust and reliable autonomous planning system is crucial. Most current trajectory planning methods for UAVs are suitable for static environments but struggle to handle dynamic obstacles, which can pose…
Modular Aerial Robot Systems (MARS) consist of multiple drone units that can self-reconfigure to adapt to various mission requirements and fault conditions. However, existing fault-tolerant control methods exhibit significant oscillations…
Orbit-determination programs find the orbit solution that best fits a set of observations by minimizing the RMS of the residuals of the fit. For near-Earth asteroids, the uncertainty of the orbit solution may be compatible with trajectories…
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…
Performance degradation due to target deviation by, for example, drift or jitter, presents a significant issue to inter-satellite laser communications. In particular, with periodic acquisition for positioning the satellite receiver,…
This paper investigates the boresight alignment control problem under safety constraints and performance requirements, involving pointing-forbidden constraint, attitude angular velocity limitation, and pointing accuracy requirement.…
This paper presents a solution for the state estimation and control problems for a class of unconventional vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) UAVs operating in forward-flight conditions. A tightly-coupled state estimation approach is used…
This paper presents a robust path-planning framework for safe spacecraft autonomy under uncertainty and develops a computationally tractable formulation based on convex programming. We utilize chance-constrained control to formulate the…
The large constellations of spacecraft planned for use in cislunar space (on the Lunar surface, in Lunar orbit, and in the vicinity of the Lunar Gateway) require new solutions for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT). Here, I describe…
An alternative, new laser link acquisition scheme for the triangular constellation of spacecraft (SCs) in deep space in the detection of gravitational waves is considered. In place of a wide field CCD camera in the initial stage of laser…
Estimating the pose of an uncooperative spacecraft is an important computer vision problem for enabling the deployment of automatic vision-based systems in orbit, with applications ranging from on-orbit servicing to space debris removal.…
This article develops an optical navigation (OPNAV) and station-keeping pipeline for the near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) in high-fidelity ephemeris model dynamics, using synthetic images of the Moon in a non-iterative horizon-based OPNAV…
At present, the principal limitation on the resolution and contrast of astronomical imaging instruments comes from aberrations in the optical path, which may be imposed by the Earth's turbulent atmosphere or by variations in the alignment…
We describe systematic ranging, an orbit determination technique especially suitable to assess the near-term Earth impact hazard posed by newly discovered asteroids. For these late warning cases, the time interval covered by the…
The development of aerial autonomy has enabled aerial robots to fly agilely in complex environments. However, dodging fast-moving objects in flight remains a challenge, limiting the further application of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).…
Transmission electron microscopes (TEMs) enable atomic-scale imaging but suffer from aberrations caused by lens imperfections and environmental conditions, reducing image quality. These aberrations can be compensated by adjusting…