This study is focused on addressing the problem of delayed measurements and contaminated Gaussian distributions in navigation systems, which both have a tremendous deleterious effect on the performance of the traditional Kalman filtering. We propose...
Spacecraft formation flying (SFF) in highly elliptical orbit (HEO) has attracted a great deal of attention in many space exploration applications, while precise guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) technology—especially precise ranging&mdash...
The non-redescending convex functions degrade the filtering robustness, whereas the redescending non-convex functions improve filtering robustness, but they tend to converge towards local minima. This work investigates the properties of convex and no...
This paper proposes a pose estimation algorithm using INS and LiDAR for precise cooperative relative navigation between target and chaser spacecraft in a close docking mission scenario. Previous cooperative algorithms have proposed estimating positio...
Close-proximity operations play a crucial role in emerging mission concepts, such as Active Debris Removal or small celestial bodies exploration. When approaching a non-cooperative target, the increased risk of collisions and reduced reliance on grou...
In this study, submillimeter level accuracy K-band microwave ranging (MWR) equipment is demonstrated, aiming to verify the detection of the Earth’s gravity field (EGF) and digital elevation models (DEM), through spacecraft formation flying (SFF) in l...
This paper tackles the problem of spacecraft relative navigation to support the reach and capture of a passively cooperative space target using a chaser platform equipped with a robotic arm in the frame of future operations such as On Orbit Servicing...
This study presents a rigorous error analysis of a previously published estimator that determines the single-frame relative pose of two rigid bodies from batches of point and unit vector measurements. The estimator solves a constrained least-squares...
The accuracy of X-ray pulsar-based navigation is greatly affected by the Doppler effect caused by the spacecraft orbital motion and the systematic biases introduced by the pulsar directional error, spacecraft-borne clock error, etc. In this paper, an...
Spacecraft relative pose estimation for an uncooperative spacecraft is challenging because the target spacecraft neither provides sensor information to a chaser spacecraft nor contains markers that assist vision-based navigation. Moreover, the chaser...
Small bodies in the Solar System are appealing targets for scientific and technological space missions, owing to their diversity in intrinsic and extrinsic properties, besides orbit and other factors. Missions to small bodies pass through the critica...
This paper investigates the performance of the forthcoming lunar navigation satellite systems for estimating not only the position of an onboard receiver in a lunar inertial reference frame but also, and with a consistent accuracy, the relative posit...
A vision-aided autonomous navigation system for translunar missions based on celestial triangulation (Earth and Moon) is proposed. Line-of-Sight (LoS) vectors from the spacecraft to celestial bodies, retrieved using ephemeris data from the designed t...
This paper investigates the problem of spacecraft relative navigation with respect to an unknown target during the close-proximity operations in the on-orbit service system. The serving spacecraft is equipped with a Time-of-Flight (ToF) camera for ob...
The navigation of future interplanetary spacecraft will require an increasing degree of autonomy to enhance space system performance. A real-time trajectory determination is of paramount importance to reduce the risks of operations devoted to the exp...
As interest in Moon exploration grows, and efforts to establish an orbiting outpost intensify, accurate modeling of spacecraft dynamics in cislunar space is becoming increasingly important. Contrary to satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), where it ta...
High-precision relative-state measurement technology is one of the key technologies for achieving the precision formation flying of distributed spacecraft. This paper conducts a comprehensive analysis of the precision formation-flying projects of dis...
In on-orbit services, the relative position and attitude estimation of non-cooperative spacecraft has become the key issues to be solved in many space missions. Because of the lack of prior knowledge about manual marks and the inability to communicat...
The guidance and control problem of spacecraft approaching an asteroid using constant continuous thrust is studied in this work. The range of interest is from hundreds of kilometers to several kilometers, in which relative measurements of much higher...
Accurate localization is a key requirement for deep-space exploration, enabling spacecraft operations with limited ground support. Upcoming commercial and scientific missions to the Moon are designed to extensively use optical measurements during low...
Non-cooperative spacecraft pose acquisition is a challenge in on-orbit service (OOS), especially for targets with unknown structures. A method for the pose measurement of non-cooperative spacecrafts based on the collaboration of binocular and time-of...
The development of autonomous guidance control and navigation systems for spacecraft would greatly benefit applications such as debris removals or on-orbit servicing, where human intervention is not practical. Within this context, inspired by Autonom...
Biomimetic vision is a promising method for efficient navigation and perception, showing great potential in modern navigation systems. Optical flow information, which comes from changes in an image on an organism’s retina as it moves relative t...
This study considers a relative orbit estimation problem wherein an observing spacecraft navigates with respect to a target space object at a large separation distance (several kilometers) using only the bearing angles obtained by a single onboard ca...
The application of starlight refraction navigation to spacecraft and space weapons is a significant development. However, the irregular stratospheric atmosphere can cause fluctuations in relative light intensity and refraction angles of refracted sta...
This paper proposes a novel Guidance and Control architecture for close-range rendezvous and final approach of a chaser spacecraft towards a non-cooperative and tumbling space target. In both phases, reference trajectory generation relies on a Sequen...
The increasing demand for on-orbit servicing (OOS), such as satellite life extension and space debris removal, has highlighted the need for research into precise relative navigation between space objects. Model-based tracking (MBT) was applied using...
The spacecraft tracking telemetering and command (TT&C) system plays an essential role in celestial and terrestrial networks, requiring relative ranging and communication, particularly in satellite formation flying networks and distributed spacec...
Deep space navigation, defined as spacecraft position tracking beyond the lunar orbit, presents significant challenges due to the extremely weak Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals and severe signal attenuation over interplanetary dista...
CANYVAL-C is a formation-flying mission that demonstrates a coronagraph utilizing two CubeSats. The coronagraph is a space telescope that blocks sunlight to examine the overcast regions around the sun. It is composed of optical and occult segments. T...
This research proposes a tailored Systems Engineering (SE) design process for the development of Attitude and Orbit Control Systems (AOCS) for small satellites operating in formation. These missions, known as Distributed Spacecraft Missions (DSMs), i...
The terrain-relative navigation (TRN) method is often used in entry, descent and landing (EDL) systems for position estimation and navigation of spacecraft. In contrast to the crater detection method, the image patch matching method does not depend o...
The exploration of celestial bodies such as the Moon, Mars, or even smaller ones such as comets and asteroids, is the next frontier of space exploration. One of the most interesting and attractive purposes from the scientific point of view in this fi...
This paper proposes an approach for impulsive formation maintenance tailored to distributed synthetic aperture radar, i.e., a spaceborne system composed by several antennas working together to provide enhanced remote sensing capabilities. The analyze...
The Virginia Tech Formation Flying Testbed (VTFFTB) is a global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-based hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation testbed for spacecraft formation flying with ionospheric remote sensing applications. Past applications con...
During the last decade a methodology for the reconstruction of surface relief by Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) measurements – SAR interferometry – has become a standard. Different techniques developed before, such as stereo-radargrammetry, have been...
Star trackers are navigation sensors that are used for attitude determination of a satellite relative to certain stars. A star tracker is required to be accurate and also consume as little power as possible in order to be used in small satellites. Wh...
Detecting celestial bodies while in deep-space travel is a critical task for the correct execution of space missions. Major bodies such as planets are bright and therefore easy to observe, while small bodies can be faint and therefore difficult to ob...