Engineering Commons^™

Astrodynamics Of The Next Generation Space Weather Prediction Mission, Mark Herring

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Accurate prediction of the solar wind properties, interplanetary magnetic field direction and various space weather phenomena becomes ever more important as our dependence on Earth orbiting spacecraft increases. Different solar wind drivers can lead both to enhancements and losses of relativistic electrons in the outer radiation belts, thus posing a major risk to satellites. To further our understanding of the Sun’s impact on the near Earth space environment, as well as to provide predictive capabilities, a mission placing monitoring satellites in key orbits in the inner Solar System is being proposed. As part of that effort, the possibility of using …

Design And Performance Of A Communications System For A Low-Cost High Altitude Balloon Platform For Troposphere And Stratosphere Research, Noemí Miguélez Gómez

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

AFOSR Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI), "Integrated Measurement and Modeling Characterization of Stratospheric Turbulence", is a 5-year effort to resolve significant operational issues concerning hypersonic vehicle aerothermodynamics, boundary layer stability, and aero-optical propagation. In situ turbulence measurements along with modeling will quantify spatiotemporal statistics and the dependence of stratospheric turbulence on underlying meteorology to a degree not previously possible. Data from high altitude balloons sampling up to kHz is required to characterize turbulence to the inner-scale, or smaller, over paltitudes from 20 km to 35+ km.

This thesis presents the development of a standard balloon bus, based on reliable COTS …

Feasibility Of Circular Orbits For Proximity Operations In Strongly Perturbed Environments Around Uniformly Rotating Asteroids, Nicholas Peter Liapis

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Asteroids have been mapped and observed since 1801 when an Italian astronomer Guiseppe Piazzi discovered Ceres (Serio, Manara, & Sicoli, 2002). Since then, asteroids have been growing in popularity throughout the scientific community because they are thought to hold the information we need to understand how the solar system developed and why life exists on earth, as well as potential precious resources. This research studies different types of orbits that have been performed to date around asteroids and how they can be reworked to require less control effort. Different types of missions that have been sent to asteroids are discussed, …