Feature Papers on Spacecraft Dynamics and Control
A special issue of Astronautics (ISSN 3042-7576).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026 | Viewed by 4
Special Issue Editor
Interests: astrodynamics; orbit design and trajectory optimization for space exploration; dynamics and control of spacecraft formation flying; modeling and simulation of high precision near-earth orbit propagation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
It is exciting that the publisher, MDPI, has launched a new journal, Astronautics. I am honored to serve as the associate editor and would like to launch a Special Issue on spacecraft dynamics and control, a rather broad field. Spacecraft dynamics and control is the study of orbit and attitude dynamics concerning the motion of spacecraft outside the atmosphere, as well as their orbit and attitude determination, maneuver, and control. Although this is a traditional field, new space missions, technologies, and demands will drive its further development.
The Special Issue on spacecraft dynamics and control mainly focuses on the advanced orbit and attitude dynamics and control of spacecraft. New concepts, theories, models, methods, techniques, algorithms, discoveries, etc., are highly anticipated. Improvements to the existing astronautical knowledge, such as proving or disproving a hypothesis, explaining the cause of a phenomenon, obtaining the analytical solution to a certain theoretical model, verifying the application value or effectiveness of a certain type of method, etc., and expansions of the boundaries of existing astronautical knowledge, such as filling a certain gap, expanding the scope of application of existing theories or methods, combining multiple existing concepts together to present something new and useful, etc., are also anticipated. Authors are invited to submit full research and review articles on the following (but not limited to) branches: orbital dynamics, orbital maneuver, orbital design, trajectory optimization, orbit determination and prediction, attitude determination, control, and dynamics, guidance, navigation, and control of spacecraft, and attitude-orbit coupling dynamics and control. It is more anticipated for complex and novel space missions, such as multi-target and multi-probe cooperative space exploration, deployment and in-orbit maintenance of satellite constellations, low-energy transfer in multi-body gravitational fields, orbital debris removal, asteroid flyby exploration and contact detection, artificial intelligence and autonomy in spacecraft dynamics and control, etc.
Prof. Dr. Fanghua Jiang
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Astronautics is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- spacecraft control and dynamics
- orbital design
- trajectory optimization
- attitude determination, control and dynamics
- satellite constellation
- formation flying
- debris removal
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