Not only has the number of launched spacecraft per year exploded recently, but spacecraft are also getting progressively more complex as instruments become more capable and flyby missions give way to remote orbiters, then to rovers and other in situ explorers. To address the software issues in this expanding mission set, JPL started the Mission Data System (MDS) project – an effort to make engi...

The fundamental methods are described for the general spacecraft trajectory design and optimization software system called Copernicus. The methods rely on a unified framework that is used to model, design, and optimize spacecraft trajectories that may operate in complex gravitational force fields, use multiple propulsion systems, and involve multiple spacecraft. The trajectory model, with its a...

In this paper, we use Cluster data from one magnetopause event on 5 July 2001 to compare predictions from various methods for determination of the velocity, orientation, and thickness of the magnetopause current layer. We employ established as well as new multi-spacecraft techniques, in which time differences between the crossings by the four spacecraft, along with the duration of each crossing...

NASA has recently announced the New Millennium Program (NMP) to develop \faster, better, cheaper" spacecraft in order to establish a \virtual presence" in space. A crucial element in achieving this vision is onboard spacecraft autonomy, requiring us to automate functions which have traditionally been achieved on ground by humans. These include planning activities, sequencing spacecraft actions,...

While past flight projects involved a single spacecraft in isolation, over forty proposed future missions involve multiple coordinated spacecraft. This paper presents characteristics of such missions in terms ofproperties of the phenomena being measured as well as the rationale for using multiple spacecraft. We describe the coordination problems associated with operating these missions and iden...

This work presents a distributed estimation and control architecture for formation flying spacecraft. We show how spacecraft can individually create a local estimate of the formation and create their own control action using that estimate. Proofs are provided to show that such a scheme is asymptotically stable and spacecraft will reach consensus on the formation states.

Efficient algorithms for collision-free energy sub-optimal path planning for formations of spacecraft flying in deep space are presented. The idea is to introduce a set of way-points through which the spacecraft are required to pass, combined with parameterizations of the trajectories which are energy-optimal for each spacecraft. The resulting constrained optimization problem is formulated as a...

GPS is increasingly being used for a wide range of applications. Its use for spacecraft navigation has been already demonstrated for absolute real-time positioning and precise orbit determination. Now, in preparation for the proximity navigation of the ESA Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) around the International Space Station, spacecraft relative navigation using GPS has to be demonstrated. Fo...

Operating robotic scientific spacecraft is a complex process. To reduce operating costs and risks, there has been much discussion of the requirements for automating spacecraft operations as well as automating the spacecraft themselves. It is not always easy to determine which features to automate in space, which ones to automate on the ground, and which functions would best remain in human hand...

This paper presents general stability conditions for a spinning spacecraft with partially liquid-filled tanks by using Rumyanstev and Mclntyre methods. These methods are compared for accuracy and limitation by applying them to a specific case of a spinning spacecraft with two partially liquid-filled tanks. The stability conditions require that, for a stable motion, the spin to transverse moment...