Mason A. Peck

CRISPI (Compositional Regolith and Icy Surface analysis via Particle Impact) is a proposed ridealong in-situ mass spectrometer (MS) smallsat mission to provide synergistic astrobiology science at Ariel to the Uranus Orbiter and Probe (UOP) mission. By utilizing a high-resolution impact ionization MS based on the Europa Clipper’s Surface Dust Analyzer on a deployable smallsat platform, CRISPSI will provide in-situ mass data of the surface of Ariel, a moon of Uranus and one of the highest-priority astrobiology targets in the outer solar system. Ariel is specifically called out in the Origins, Worlds, and Life (OWL) Decadal Survey as a high-priority target because it is potentially a liquid-water-bearing icy ocean world that is known to have ammonia, an organic volatile species that indicates recent surface processing (possibly from cryovolcanism or other subsurface sources) and may act as an anti-freeze for water. However, the baseline UOP mission has few flybys of Ariel with limited compositional data provided only by optical spectrometers. CRISPI addresses this gap by enabling the direct and unambiguous detection of organics and salts present in and the quantification of ice-to-rock and salt-to-water ratios of >1000 surface dust grains mapped to visible features on Ariel’s surface. In principle, CRISPI may also be used to study Miranda (another high priority astrobiology target) and the Uranus ring systems, which are poorly understood and are also specifically called out in the OWL Decadal Survey. Here we present results from the Cornell SmallSat Mission Design School (SMDS) that developed the CRISPI mission concept. We propose CRISPI to work in synergy with the UOP’s magnetometer, imagers, and optical spectrometers to extend its science reach, break ambiguities in optical spectrometer data, and provide unique and critical in-situ mass spectral data to assess Ariel’s habitability and search for organic signs of past or extant life.

The increasing need for refueling and servicing of on-orbit spacecraft motivates a fresh look at the dynamic behaviors of interconnected spacecraft. The sudden changes in attitude dynamics during connection events demand high-torque actuation, ideally through power-efficient momentum-control systems. This study examines the case of two spacecraft (i.e. a servicer and a client spacecraft) that undergo such a connection and how an array of control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) could counteract the impulsive loads imparted by the client. Momentum conservation for a perfectly inelastic collision—or docking event—establishes the requirements for the servicer’s control moment gyroscopes. The servicer’s initial conditions and relative-scaling parameters determine the angular momentum of the servicer-client composite body. Equations of motion for a system comprising the servicer, the servicer’s gyroscopes, and a client spacecraft establish first-principles design parameters for the composite spacecraft. From these equations, certain initial conditions for significantly larger-mass client spacecraft determine the upper limit for CMG array angular momentum. Conversely, clients with mass properties similar to or smaller than those of the servicer are the most feasible. These intuitive first-principles results are confirmed through simulation, in which a state-space representation models the control of the composite spacecraft’s angular momentum by commanding the gyroscopes’ gimbal rates. Simulated docking scenarios confirm the appropriateness of the example subsystem’s design, show the composite spacecraft’s attitude settling behavior, and reveal the limitations of CMG attitude control during docking operations.

This work introduces the DeSCENT mission (Demonstration of Suborbital ChipSats Ejected from a New Shepard Test Flight) as an early technology demonstration of ChipSats for in-situ atmospheric sensing. ChipSats are centimeter-scale spacecraft assembled onto a single PCB. Taking advantage of strength in numbers thanks to their low cost, mass, and volume, ChipSats are well-suited for higher-risk mission applications as well as distributed sensing. As a pathfinder towards such missions, DeSCENT proposes to deploy 100 ChipSats at the edge of Earth's atmosphere. The suborbital experiment is designed for a Blue Origin New Shepard launch, releasing the ChipSats at approximately the Kármán Line. The fleet of ChipSats shall beacon telemetry throughout their descent, with many expected to survive terminal-velocity ground impact, enabling recovery of detailed sensor logs. The data collected from this experiment serves as a sample dataset to motivate the science case and refines models to predict ChipSat dispersion. This paper provides a mission overview as well as design details of the ChipSat, their deployer, and RF communications.

Virtual fencing technologies offer a promising alternative to traditional physical barriers for managing livestock, enabling dynamic and non-invasive control over grazing behavior. However, current systems often rely on simplified assumptions about animal responses, neglecting the cognitive, perceptual, and social dynamics that shape cattle behavior in complex herd environments. This study introduces a biologically grounded modeling framework designed to capture core processes influencing cattle response to auditory cues—specifically frequency sensitivity, amplitude saturation, associative learning, habituation, individual behavioral variability, and social influence. These factors are formalized through modular equations; and integrated into agent-based and differential equation simulations to examine individual and herd-level outcomes. By calibrating the model against empirical behavioral data, we reproduce known learning patterns and explore cue effectiveness under variable conditions. The framework offers an interpretable and flexible foundation for optimizing next-generation virtual fencing systems, improving both functional control and animal welfare.

A Turn-and-Burn maneuver is a continuous-high-thrust trajectory. This maneuver utilizes Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman time optimality to achieve a minimum time solution. Where previous investigations into the viability of a Turn-and-Burn maneuver assume some unknown propulsive capability and sought minimum time solutions, this investigation explores the premise of using Nuclear Thermal Propulsion in a Turn-and-Burn Style maneuver. With larger upfront mass costs of Nuclear Thermal Propulsion as opposed to chemical propulsion systems, significant savings are to be had operating a smaller NTP engine continuously rather than a large one impulsively. While the specific impulse of current NTP technology is still too low for interplanetary Turn-and-Burn maneuvers, cis-lunar spacecraft present a unique opportunity to exploit the savings of a Turn-and-Burn style maneuver. Specifically, we find that a turn and burn maneuver combined with an NTP system can reduce transfer times to Lunar capture. This paper presents trajectory optimization for this maneuver, along with system performance results for a range of thrust limits and transfer times.

Covers advancements in spacecraft and tactical and strategic missile systems, including subsystem design and application, mission design and analysis, materials and structures, developments in space sciences, space processing and manufacturing, space operations, and applications of space technologies to other fields.

Contact binary asteroids are ubiquitous in the solar system: the Kuiper belt, main belt, and near-Earth populations all house these complex aggregates. Although contact binaries account for up to 30% of small bodies in the solar system, the formation of one has yet to be observed. We present a preliminary mission design to create a contact binary asteroid and observe its formation using a binary NEO system, a kinetic impactor, and an observer spacecraft. Not only does this mission address an important gap in planetary science, it also serves the planetary defense community: it will further demonstrate planetary defense technology to provide unique observation opportunities. A binary system offers a convenient natural laboratory for this mission, as the ability to form a contact binary using a kinetic impactor depends greatly on the size of the target and the proximity to its parent body. From among all known binary near-Earth objects, binary asteroid system (350751) 2002 AW was chosen for this case study. A spacecraft can achieve rendezvous with this system from low-Earth orbit with a cheap total ΔV ≈ 4.3 km/s. A pair of spacecraft launch on the same launch vehicle and separate before asteroid impact. The two spacecraft are (1) an impactor that has been adapted from the DART spacecraft and (2) an observer spacecraft that will rendezvous with the binary system and observe the creation of the contact binary. The spacecraft impact must be designed such that it redirects the secondary into a collision course with the primary while not catastrophically disrupting the target asteroid. Impact parameters such as angle of impact, catastrophic disruption limit, and the β factor have been considered. Among other design decisions, we present our target-selection methodology, launch-vehicle considerations, and launch opportunities.

This work introduces a method that applies images of the extended bodies in the solar system to spacecraft camera calibration. The extended bodies consist of planets and moons that are well-modeled by triaxial ellipsoids. When imaged, the triaxial ellipsoid projects to a conic section which is generally an ellipse. This work combines the imaged ellipse with information on the observer's target-relative state to achieve camera calibration from a single imaged ellipsoid. As such, this work is the first to accomplish camera calibration from a single, non-spherical imaged ellipsoid. The camera calibration algorithm is applied to synthetic images of ellipsoids as well as planetary images of Saturn's moons as captured by the Cassini spacecraft. From a single image, the algorithm estimates the focal length and principal point of Cassini's Narrow Angle Camera within 1.0 mm and 10 pixels, respectively. With multiple images, the one standard deviation uncertainty in focal length and principal point estimates reduce to 0.5 mm and 3.1 pixels, respectively. Though created for spacecraft camera calibration in mind, this work also generalizes to terrestrial camera calibration using any number of imaged ellipsoids.

This paper introduces a propellant-free approach to mobility of an inspection or servicing vehicle. The approach is suitable for motion near the surface of non-ferromagnetic, conductive objects in orbit. This work considers the specifics of eddy-current interactions between a translating permanent magnet and the aluminum surfaces of spacecraft. Such an actuator moves within the body of an inspection vehicle, requiring that its motion remains limited if the vehicle is to continuously interact with the client spacecraft. Experimental verification on a low-friction air track verifies a model for attraction–repulsion dynamics at millimeter-scale initial separations in one dimension. Results show good agreement between the simulated and tested conditions and motivate extension of the model to more general cases. To bound the design space and relative distances at which this actuator is effective, this work identifies the required size, mass, and trajectories for repulsion that restores the actuator to its initial configuration. Results support the utility of eddy-current actuation for microsatellites at separations of millimeters to centimeters from their conductive clients. For such clients the actuator may enable relative mobility and achieve other objectives key to proximity operations.

Many onboard vision tasks for spacecraft navigation require high-quality remote-sensing images with clearly decipherable features. However, design constraints and the operational and environmental conditions limit their quality. Enhancing images through postprocessing is a cost-efficient solution. Current deep learning methods that enhance low-resolution images through super-resolution do not quantify network uncertainty of predictions and are trained at a single scale, which hinders practical integration in image-acquisition pipelines. This work proposes performing multiscale super-resolution using a deep normalizing flow network for uncertainty-quantified and Monte Carlo estimates so that image enhancement for spacecraft vision tasks may be more robust and predictable. The proposed network architecture outperforms state-of-the-art super-resolution models on in-orbit lunar imagery data. Simulations demonstrate its viability on task-based evaluations for landmark identification.

This work explores the feasibility of using images of Saturn’s ring system as a navigation resource for spacecraft. The perspective geometry of Saturn’s rings provides closed-form expressions for estimating a spacecraft’s relative position as well as its analytical covariance. Numerical simulations detail the performance and sensitivity of the position estimates. An extended Kalman filter fuses the relative position estimates with spacecraft dynamics for more accurate relative position and velocity estimates. An Enceladus sample collection mission serves as a case study where the proposed method seems viable. With filtering, simulation of an Enceladus sample-collection mission achieves maximum [Formula: see text] bounds of 7.19 km and [Formula: see text] for relative position and velocity estimates, respectively, during its Enceladus encounter. Autonomous navigation may reduce the cost of such a mission to the point where several small spacecraft can achieve the science objectives.

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2023-1301.vid This paper investigates the viability of ChipSats (gram-scale satellite-on-a-chip probes) for in-situ measurements of the atmosphere of planetary bodies, as well as their landing dispersion for secondary use as a ground-based sensor network. If released in the upper atmosphere, either during planetary entry, descent, and landing (EDL) or via ascent from the ground, a swarm of gram-scale probes could gather datasets of spatially and temporally varying phenomena in unprecedented detail. Due to their extremely low ballistic coefficients, ChipSats traverse the majority of the descent to ground at terminal velocity. At these speeds, the attitude kinematics and consequently the dispersion of these probes vary drastically according to their shape and mass distribution. The intricate free-fall behaviors of ChipSats are evaluated through drop testing and CFD simulation. Incorporating these findings, a dynamics model captures the most dominant aerodynamic effects in order to inform future ChipSat design and predict landing distributions for ChipSat-descent missions.

A Turn-and-Burn maneuver is a high-thrust trajectory for interplanetary travel. The premise is that a spacecraft would accelerate for a little more than half of the distance, and then decelerate for the remainder of the maneuver, achieving the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman time optimality. Doing so would require a propulsion technology that does not yet exist. The present study considers a general, unknown propulsive capability that does not violate known principles of physics. This paper focuses on the case study of a trajectory from Earth’s orbit to Mars’ orbit for particular values of specific impulse, and propellant mass fraction. In this case, where a Hohmann transfer would take months, a Turn-and-Burn Maneuver would take about 25 hours under about 3g of continuous acceleration with the characteristic flip occurring at 55% of the Earth-to-Mars travel time. As with any propulsion system, thermodynamic inefficiency would lead to other system-architecture implications: thermal requirements, materials and mass limits, structural loads, and physiological limits of the astronauts. Spacecraft-subsystem requirements that flow from these applications, include that thrust loads may exceed those of launch, and therefore the structure would limit Turn-and-Burn performance. This paper presents results of trajectory optimization via simulation, which serve as the first steps in a roadmap to high-speed interplanetary transportation.