Research

Current Research

Space Situational Awareness (SSA) is knowledge of the situation in outer space to inform a spacecraft operator’s decisions
Current research focuses on uncertainty quantification, estimation theory, multi-target filtering, and information-theoretic tasking of sensors
Previous research also includes computationally efficient orbit state propagation and conjunction assessment
A lot of our current work is focused on maneuvering space objects and uncertainty propagation in cislunar space

Develop new methods of orbit determination and uncertainty quantification to meet demands for near- and long-term spacecraft missions and SSA
Previous research includes the development of mission design tools to enable robust maneuver planning for outer planets missions and conjunction assessment
This research includes elements of spacecraft mission design, risk analysis, and uncertainty quantification

Develop novel methods of spacecraft navigation for missions at the Moon and asteroids
Most of our navigation work focuses on vision-based and new sensing modalities, e.g., event-based cameras
This includes the SCOPE-1 satellite mission funded by NASA to test terrain-relative navigation methods in low-Earth orbit

This previous work quantified the effects on an impactor’s trajectory and the asteroid material properties on the realized change in velocity post-impact

This work looked at improving orbit state estimation accuracy for communication satellites using TDOA and FDOA measurements
The improved satellite ephemeris may then be used to locate sources of radio-frequency (RF) interference
The process of pinpointing the source of the signal originating from the Earth is known as geolocation

This work applied LiAISON navigation to the problem of autonomously navigating two spacecraft in orbit about an asteroid
Results demonstrated that navigation may be performed simultaneously with gravity field estimation

My Ph.D. work was in the development of new models for computationally efficient estimation and evaluation of the gravity field
This work, most notably the developed cubed-sphere model, is in use by multiple non-academic organizations for computationally efficient orbit propagation