Paper Category: Statistical Analysis and Application
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Ensuring Orbital Safety from T-0: The Critical Imperative for Immediate Post-Launch Collision Avoidance
As the density of the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) environment increases, driven by frequent rideshare missions and the deployment of mega-constellations, the initial phase of satellite operations has emerged as a period of heightened orbital risk. Historically, collision avoidance (COLA) processes have relied on established tracking by Space Situational Awareness (SSA) providers. However, this study…
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Robust Trajectory Optimization and Control for Autonomous Small Satellite Terminal Proximity Operations under Uncertainty
This research presents a robust guidance and control architecture for SmallSat terminal proximity operations, focusing on the transition from rendezvous to final docking. As autonomous in-space servicing and assembly become mission-critical, GNC systems must maintain centimeter-level accuracy while respecting strict hardware and safety constraints in the presence of state and model uncertainties. The methodology utilizes…
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Evaluation of Heterogeneous Data Fusion for Real-Time Agricultural Stress Monitoring in Small-Scale Farming Ecosystems
Smallholder agricultural systems represent a critical frontier for climate resilience strategies, yet they are often underserved by traditional remote sensing frameworks due to fragmented land parcels and low-frequency reporting. This research investigates an autonomous geospatial framework designed to synthesize multi-source satellite data, specifically Sentinel-2 MSI optical imagery and CHIRPS precipitation datasets, to detect and characterize…
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Mission-level differential drag control for formation flying of 6U CubeSats through automated management of rule-based and power-budget modes.
The operational success of inter-satellite laser link (ISL) missions in CubeSat constellations depends on the strict management of conflicting requirements: energy harvesting, high-precision payload targeting, and orbital maintenance. This paper presents an automated onboard mission logic designed to manage the relative distance of a two-satellite 6U in formation flight (ranging from 100 km to 1000…
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Optimizing Radiation Test Fluence Requirements via Inverse Reliability Analysis: A Mission-Specific Approach
Standard radiation hardness assurance methodologies typically rely on generic, static test fluences (10^7 ions/cm^2) to screen for Destructive Single Event Effects (DSEE). While robust, this “one-size-fits-all” approach often results in costly over-testing. This paper proposes a paradigm shift in test planning, moving from directive-based compliance to a logical, mission-specific derivation of requirements. We present an…
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Thermal Data Interoperability for Small Satellite Missions: Integrating CAD, ETMS, and STEP-TAS
The rapid development cycles of small satellite missions require the transition from isolated engineering practices to a continuous, concurrent or model-based systems engineering (MBSE) approach. A significant bottleneck remains in thermal engineering, where the manual translation of mechanical designs into thermal models- and the exchange of thermal models between different software environments – often leads…