Summer 2021:
Congrats to Ed George and Carter Franz for completing their M.S. degrees and starting jobs, both with the Aerospace Corp.
Two new journal articles:
McArdle, S., Russell, R.P., “Circulating Eccentric Periodic Orbits at the Moon,” Celestial Mechanics and Dynamics Astronomy, Vol. 133, Article 18, 2021, Special Issue: 50 years of Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 2019, 18 pages, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10569-021-10013-z
Ottesen, D., Russell. R.P., “Unconstrained Direct Optimization of Spacecraft Trajectories Using Many Embedded Lambert Problems,” Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10957-021-01884-1
Fall 2020:
Congrats to Bryn Fanger and David Cunningham for winning NASA NSTGRO fellowships: https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/strg/nstgro_2020/
Summer 2020:
Two new journal articles published on multi-shooting extension to DDP: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2019.12.037 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2019.12.038
Congrats to Patrick Wittick for successfully defending his PhD dissertation!
Fall 2019:
Congratulations to team for winning 3 year Astrodynamics grant from NASA (NNH18ZDA001N-ADYN) to study outer planet moon tours. UT Austin led (Russell PI) multi-organization team including Goddard Space Flight Center, Applied Physics Laboratory (Johns Hopkins), and NablaZero Labs.
New paper accepted on Lambert’s problem:
Russell, R.P., “On the Solution to Every Lambert Problem,” Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, accepted 2019, https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10569-019-9927-z
Summer 2019:
Congratulations to James Leith for being selected as NASA NSTRF Class of 2019 for “Low-Thrust Trajectory Design in Multi-Body Environments Through Patched Periodic Orbits”
UT celebrates grand opening of Aerospace Engineering Building
Spring 2019:
Several new papers Papers from the group have been accepted or published:
Bokelmann, K., Russell, R.P., “Optimization of Impulsive Europa Capture Trajectories using Primer Vector Theory,” The Journal of the Astronautical Scienceshttp://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40295-018-00146-z
Wittick, P., Russell, R.P., “Mixed-Model Gravity Representations for Small Celestial Bodies Using Mascons and Spherical Harmonics,” Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy https://doi.org/10.1007/s10569-019-9904-6.
Biria, A. D. and Russell, R. P., “Analytical Solution to the Vinti Problem in Oblate Spheroidal Equinoctial Orbital Elements,” The Journal of the Astronautical Sciences https://doi.org/10.1007/s40295-019-00179-y.
Hatten, N., Russell, R.P., “The Eccentric Case of a Fast-Rotating, Gravity-Gradient-Perturbed Satellite Attitude Solution,” Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, https://rdcu.be/9IWb.
Aug 2018:
Congratulations to Kevin Bokelmann and Ricardo Restrepo for completing their PhDs! Kevin took a full-time position at JHU/APL, while Ricardo is starting a post-doc at JPL soon.
Professor Russell was honored at the recent Space Flight Mechanics Meeting for being elected to Fellow of AAS (American Astronautical Society)
Summer 2018:
Several new papers Papers from the group have been accepted or published:
Restrepo, R.L., Russell, R.P., “A Database of Planar Axi-Symmetric Periodic Orbits for the Solar System,” Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy
Hatten, N., Russell, R.P., “Decoupled Direct State Transition Matrix Calculation with Runge-Kutta Methods,” The Journal of the Astronautical Sciences, accepted July 2018.
Hatten, N., Russell, R.P., “A Semianalytical Technique for Six-Degree-of-Freedom Space Object Propagation,” Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, accepted Aug. 2018.
Hatten, N., Russell, R.P., “The Eccentric Case of a Fast-Rotating, Gravity-Gradient-Perturbed Satellite Attitude Solution,” Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, accepted Sept. 2018.
Feb 2018:
Paper published describing a new state transition matrix for Earth orbiters is accepted to appear in Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy:
Biria, A., Russell, R.P., A Satellite Relative Motion Model Including J2 and J3 via Vinti’s Intermediary, click to view: http://rdcu.be/HGId
Jan 2018:
Paper accepted, on ballistic capture orbits at Mars, resulting from a collaboration with Politecnico di Milano, to appear in JGCD:
Dei Tos, D. A., Russell, R. P., Topputo, F., Survey of Mars Ballistic Capture Trajectories Using Periodic Orbits as Generating Mechanisms
Paper accepted, describing a new orbit elements for use in oblate geometry, to appear in Acta Astronautica:
Biria, A., Russell, R.P., Equinoctial Elements for Vinti Theory: Generalizations to an Oblate Spheroidal Geometry , online first Jan. 2018, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2017.11.013
August 2017:
Group presented 7 papers @AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference in Stevenson, WA. Also witnessed an amazing Total Solar Eclipse!
August 2017:
Congratulations to Etienne Pellegrini and Ash Biria for completing their PhDs! Etienne accepted a position at NASA/JPL, while Ash accepted a position at The Aerospace Corp;
July 2017:
Dr. Russell teaches short course at NASA/JSC (Numerical Optimization of Spacecraft Trajectories);
June 2017:
Congrats to Chun-Yi Wu and Patrick Wittick for passing the Written Qualifying Exams!
June 2017:
Ash Biria presents paper on Vinti theory equinoctial elements at International Workshop of Satellite Constellations and Formation Flying, University of Colorado Boulder;