About
Welcome! Thank you for visiting our site. We are a research group that solves orbital mechanics problems as they relate to space utilization and exploration. We consist mainly of a professor, graduate students and occasional visiting scholars. We are in the Orbital Mechanics discipline area … Read More
Research
Areas of Interest: Spaceflight mechanics / Astrodynamics; Optimal control / Optimization / Numerical methods; Orbit determination; Multi-body dynamics; Periodic orbits and general orbit stability (high-fidelity repeat ground track design, constellation design, cyclers, planetary … Read More
Lab News
Summer 2023: Congrats to Shubam Singh for completing the PhD! Shubham works for Shift Robotics in Austin. Summer 2022: Congrats to David Ottesen and Sean McArdle for completing their PhDs! Sean works as a civil servant at NASA JSC, and David works for Leo Labs in CA. … Read More
NASA Image of the Day
- During its close flyby of Jupiter’s moon Io on December 30, 2023, NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured some of the most detailed imagery ever of Io’s volcanic surface. This image is the NASA Science Image of the Month for October 2025.
spacenews
- MOUNTAIN VIEW, California – Satellite-servicing businesses are finally getting off the ground thanks in part to technological innovation and the example set by prime contractor Northrop Grumman. “There is no shame in saying that we are riding on Northrop’s coattails,” said Luis Vidal, Starfish Space commercial geostationary business development director. “Northrop broke the suspension of […]
nasa
- by Kat Troche of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific September 2025 marks ten years since the first direct detection of gravitational waves as predicted by Albert Einstein’s 1916 theory of General Relativity. These invisible ripples in space were first directly detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). Traveling at the speed of light […]