Related papers: PaddleSat Optical Charging Station in Space
CubeSats have the potential to expand astrophysical discovery space, complementing ground-based electromagnetic and gravitational-wave observatories. The CubeSat design specifications help streamline delivery of instrument payloads to…
Issues with tracking, precision pointing, and Doppler shift are the major sources of performance loss in laser inter-satellite communication that can severely decrease the coverage and overall performance of satellite constellations. As a…
Wireless power transfer (WPT) is a promising solution to provide convenient and perpetual energy supplies to electronics. Traditional WPT technologies face the challenge of providing Watt-level power over meter-level distance for Internet…
Laser-accelerated lightsails enable new types of missions that are very different from the Breakthrough Starshot mission to the Centauri system that aims to send 1 gram of payload at 0.2 c. The present work widens the mission design space…
The interaction of a space system with its orbital environment is a major consideration in the design of any space system, since a variety of hazards are associated with the operation of spacecraft in the harsh space environment. In this…
Communication with a spacecraft is typically performed using Radio Frequency (RF). RF is a well-established and well-regulated technology that enables communication over long distances as proven by the Voyager 1 & II missions. However, RF…
This work studies the joint problem of power and trajectory optimization in an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-enabled mobile relaying system. In the considered system, in order to provide convenient and sustainable energy supply to the UAV…
In this paper, we aim to sustain unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based missions for longer periods of times through different techniques. First, we consider on-the-mission UAV recharging by a low-power laser source (below 1 kilowatt). In…
Wireless energy transfer is an emerging technology that is used in networks of battery-powered devices in order to deliver energy and keep the network functional. Existing state-of-the-art studies have mainly focused on applying this…
As Covid-19 has increased the need for connectivity around the world, researchers are targeting new technologies that could improve coverage and connect the unconnected in order to make progress toward the United Nations Sustainable…
Achieving relativistic flight to enable extrasolar exploration is one of the dreams of humanity and the long term goal of our NASA Starlight program. We derive a fully relativistic solution for the motion of a spacecraft propelled by…
Distributed laser charging (DLC) is a wireless power transfer technology for mobile electronics. Similar to traditional wireless charging systems, the DLC system can only provide constant power to charge a battery. However, Li-ion battery…
This work studies optimal solar charging for solar-powered self-sustainable UAV communication networks, considering the day-scale time-variability of solar radiation and user service demand. The objective is to optimally trade off between…
Future spacecraft will require a paradigm shift in the way the information is transmitted due to the continuous increase in the amount of data requiring space links. Current radiofrequency-based communication systems impose a bottleneck in…
Laser propulsion has been proposed for relativistic interstellar flights, but it faces the significant challenge of requiring extremely powerful laser radiation due to the inherently low momentum transfer between the beam and the sail. The…
With the ever growing number of space debris in orbit, the need to prevent further space population is becoming more and more apparent. Refueling, servicing, inspection and deorbiting of spacecraft are some example missions that require…
In this paper, we investigate traits and trade-offs of a system combining UAVs with BS or C-RAN for extending the terrestrial wireless coverage over the sea in emergency situations. Results for an over the sea deployment link budget show…
CubeSats are excellent platforms to rapidly perform simple space experiments. Several hundreds of CubeSats have already been successfully launched in the past few years and the number of announced launches grows every year. These platforms…
In Earth Observation Satellite Networks (EOSNs) with a large number of battery-carrying satellites, proper power allocation and task scheduling are crucial to improving the data offloading efficiency. As such, we jointly optimize power…
We discuss the in-flight autonomous assembly as the means to build advanced planetary science payloads to explore the outer regions of the solar system. These payloads are robotically constructed from modular parts delivered by a group of…