Space Vehicles Commons^™

Spacecraft Payloads, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint Presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs on "Spacecraft Payloads" on January 5, 2013.

Systems Engineering, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint Presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs on "System Engineering" on January 5, 2013.

Akin's Laws Of Spacecraft Design, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A document use in class by Professor Bob Twiggs titled "Akin's Law of Spacecraft Design" from January 5, 2013.

Modeling Of Chemical Nonequilibrium Effects In A Charring Ablator, Alexandre Martin

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Charring ablators remain the premium choice for space exploration missions that involve atmospheric re-entry. These type of ablative material are composed of a carbon matrix, usually made of fibers, which is then impregnated with a resin. During re-entry, the high heat flux produced by convective heating causes the material to chemically react. First, the resin pyrolyzes, and is vaporized into a gas that travels through the material, and is eventually ejected at the surface. Since the composition of the gas at the surface greatly affects the heat flux, and therefore the surface temperature, it is thus important to be able …

Bio-Inspired Cooperative Optimal Trajectory Planning For Autonomous Vehicles, Charles Remeikas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the recent trend for systems to be more and more autonomous, there is a growing need for cooperative trajectory planning. Applications that can be considered as cooperative systems such as surveying, formation flight, and traffic control need a method that can rapidly produce trajectories while considering all of the constraints on the system. Currently most of the existing methods to handle cooperative control are based around either simple dynamics and/or on the assumption that all vehicles have homogeneous properties. In reality, typical autonomous systems will have heterogeneous, nonlinear dynamics while also being subject to extreme constraints on certain state …

Vision-Based Sensing And Optimal Control For Low-Cost And Small Satellite Platforms, Bradley Sease

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Current trends in spacecraft are leading to smaller, more inexpensive options whenever possible. This shift has been primarily pursued for the opportunity to open a new frontier for technologies with a small financial obligation. Limited power, processing, pointing, and communication capabilities are all common issues which must be considered when miniaturizing systems and implementing low-cost components. This thesis addresses some of these concerns by applying two methods, in attitude estimation and control. Additionally, these methods are not restricted to only small, inexpensive satellites, but offer a benefit to large-scale spacecraft as well. First, star cameras are examined for the tendency …

Mission Analysis For Pico-Scale Satellite Based Dust Detection In Low Earth Orbits, Jacob Belli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A conceptual dust detection mission, KnightSat III, using pico-scale satellites is analyzed. The purpose of the proposed KnightSat III mission is to aid in the determination of the size, mass, distribution, and number of dust particles in low earth orbits through a low cost and flexible satellite or a formation of satellites equipped with a new dust detector. The analysis of a single satellite mission with an on-board dust detector is described; though this analysis can easily be extended to a formation of pico-scale satellites. Many design aspects of the mission are discussed, including orbit analysis, power management, attitude determination …

An Attitude Determination System With Mems Gyroscope Drift Compensation For Small Satellites, Maxwell Bezold

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

This thesis presents the design of an attitude determination system for small satellites that automatically corrects for attitude drift. Existing attitude determination systems suffer from attitude drift due to the integration of noisy rate gyro sensors used to measure the change in attitude. This attitude drift leads to a gradual loss in attitude knowledge, as error between the estimated attitude and the actual attitude increases.

In this thesis a Kalman filter is used to complete sensor fusion which combines sensor observations with a projected attitude based on the dynamics of the satellite. The system proposed in this thesis also utilizes …

Visual Attitude Propagation For Small Satellites, Samir Ahmed Rawashdeh

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

As electronics become smaller and more capable, it has become possible to conduct meaningful and sophisticated satellite missions in a small form factor. However, the capability of small satellites and the range of possible applications are limited by the capabilities of several technologies, including attitude determination and control systems. This dissertation evaluates the use of image-based visual attitude propagation as a compliment or alternative to other attitude determination technologies that are suitable for miniature satellites. The concept lies in using miniature cameras to track image features across frames and extracting the underlying rotation.

The problem of visual attitude propagation as …

Heteroclinic And Homoclinic Connections Between The Sun-Earth Triangular Points And Quasi-Satellite Orbits For Solar Observations, Pedro J. Llanos, Gerald R. Hintz, Martin W. Lo, James K. Miller

Publications

Investigation of new orbit geometries exhibits a very attractive behavior for a spacecraft to monitor space weather coming from the Sun. Several orbit transfer mechanisms are analyzed as potential alternatives to monitor solar activity such as a sub-solar orbit or quasi-satellite orbit and short and long heteroclinic and homoclinic connections between the triangular points L4 and L5 and the collinear point L3 of the CRTBP (circular restricted three-body problem) in the Sun-Earth system. These trajectories could serve as channels through where material can be transported from L5 to L3 by performing small maneuvers at the departure of the Trojan orbit. …

Space Environment-Ii Lecture - Powerpoint Presentation, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

Professor Bob Twiggs' lecture on Space Environment-II PowerPoint presentation delivered on December 3, 2012.

Cubesat: From The Beginning To Who Knows Where, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs titled "CubeSat: From the Beginning to Who Knows Where" from November 13, 2012.

Small-Satellites For Arctic And Maritime Operations And Research, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs titled "Small-Satellites for Arctic and Maritime Operations and Research" from November 9, 2012.

Cubesat, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs titled "CubeSat" from November 7, 2012.

A Gap Analysis Of Meteorological Requirements For Commercial Space Operators, Nicholas J. Stapleton

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Commercial space companies will soon be the primary method of launching people and supplies into orbit. Among the critical aspects of space launches are the meteorological concerns. Laws and regulations pertaining to meteorological considerations have been created to ensure the safety of the space industry and those living around spaceports; but, are they adequate? Perhaps the commercial space industry can turn to the commercial aviation industry to help answer that question. Throughout its history, the aviation industry has dealt with lessons learned from mishaps due to failures in understanding the significance of weather impacts on operations. Using lessons from the …

The Us Challenge To Stay The Worlds Technical Leader In Innovation, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs titled "The US Challenge to Stay the Worlds Technical Leader in Innovation" from October 18, 2012.

The Corona Reconnaissance Satellite Program, Amy Parlett

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

100k High Altitude Student Rocket, Markus Murdy

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Validation Of The Ballistic Limit Equation For Monolithic Aluminum Shielding At Geostationary Orbital Debris Impact Velocity, Brandon Holladay

Aerospace Engineering

The Cal Poly Electro Magnetic Rail Gun was used to eject a 0.370 gram, rectangular aluminum projectile towards a 1/16 inch monolithic aluminum plate at a speed of 280 ± 50 m/s. The resulting impact left a large attached spall on the back of the shielding. The impact damage was compared to an industry ballistic limit equation for a spherical aluminum projectile of similar diameter and was shown to have slightly less damage than the expected results.

In addition, an aluminum mesh double bumper shield was fired upon in order to verify its higher protection per aerial density as well …

Configuration Studies Of Electrostatic And Magnetostatic Active Space Radiation Shielding, Trac K. Nguyen

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Developing successful and optimal solutions for mitigating the hazards of radiation in deep space is critical for the success of deep-space long duration explorations, including mission to the Moon, Mars and beyond. A recent report (Tripathi et al., 2008) had explored the feasibility of using electrostatic shielding in conjunction with state-of-the-art materials shielding technologies.

In this thesis research, we study the active electrostatic shielding strategy and examine a hybrid configuration that utilizes both electrostatic and magnetostatic fields. The main advantages of this system are shown to be: (i) much lower magnetic fields that could be below the thresholds set for …