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Aerospace
Special Issues
GNC for the Moon, Mars, and Beyond
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Special Issue "GNC for the Moon, Mars, and Beyond"

A special issue of Aerospace (ISSN 2226-4310). This special issue belongs to the section "Astronautics & Space Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (24 November 2023) | Viewed by 4077

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Marco Sagliano

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. German Aerospace Center (DLR), Robert Hooke Str. 7, 28359 Bremen, Germany
2. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Chofu-City, Tokyo, Japan
Interests: numerical simulation; optimal control; convex optimization; pseudospectral methods; trajectory optimization; modeling and simulation; engineering, applied and computational mathematics; space; control theory; advanced control theory

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are approaching a new era in space exploration and exploitation. The human return to the Moon foreseen before this decade is out, and the renewed interest of public and (for the first time) private players towards the exploration of Mars are opening a potentially infinite variety of exciting missions. Moreover, asteroids’ deflection and in-situ resources exploitation is no longer a technological chimera, but a concrete scientific possibility at our hand. 

As for any space mission, the corresponding Guidance, Navigation and Control subsystems are called once more to be the workhorse that can make the vision behind these concepts a technological reality, and with every vision comes a challenge, that many researchers all around the world are eager to face.

I am therefore pleased to announce this special issue of Aerospace, and would like to invite you to submit manuscripts focusing on novel solutions and recent advances for spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control methods for Moon, Mars, and asteroid scenarios.

This special issue will specifically focus on

  • Trajectory Optimization
  • Computational Guidance methods
  • Novel Control Concepts
  • High-Accuracy Relative and Absolute Navigation Algorithms
  • Lunar Gateway-focusing Rendezvous and Proximity Operations
  • Advanced GNC system design concepts
  • Moon / Mars Descent and Landing High-Performing Guidance methods
  • Moon / Mars Ascent GNC concepts
  • Asteroid Mapping and Descent Robust Methodologies
  • Interplanetary Low-thrust Guidance and Control Methods.

Dr. Marco Sagliano
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Aerospace is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • trajectory optimization
  • computational guidance
  • robust control
  • entry, descent, and landing GNC
  • rendezvous and proximity operations
  • moon landing
  • asteroid mapping and descent

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 908 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Asteroid Classification Using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks
by
Victor Bacu
,
Constantin Nandra
,
Adrian Sabou
,
Teodor Stefanut
and
Dorian Gorgan
Aerospace 2023, 10(9), 752; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace10090752 - 25 Aug 2023
Viewed by 660
Abstract
Near-Earth Asteroids represent potential threats to human life because their trajectories may bring them in the proximity of the Earth. Monitoring these objects could help predict future impact events, but such efforts are hindered by the large numbers of objects that pass in [...] Read more.
Near-Earth Asteroids represent potential threats to human life because their trajectories may bring them in the proximity of the Earth. Monitoring these objects could help predict future impact events, but such efforts are hindered by the large numbers of objects that pass in the Earth’s vicinity. Additionally, there is also the problem of distinguishing asteroids from other objects in the night sky, which implies sifting through large sets of telescope image data. Within this context, we believe that employing machine learning techniques could greatly improve the detection process by sorting out the most likely asteroid candidates to be reviewed by human experts. At the moment, the use of machine learning techniques is still limited in the field of astronomy and the main goal of the present paper is to study the effectiveness of deep convolutional neural networks for the classification of astronomical objects, asteroids in this particular case, by comparing some of the well-known deep convolutional neural networks, including InceptionV3, Xception, InceptionResNetV2 and ResNet152V2. We applied transfer learning and fine-tuning on these pre-existing deep convolutional networks, and from the results that we obtained, the potential of using deep convolutional neural networks in the process of asteroid classification can be seen. The InceptionV3 model has the best results in the asteroid class, meaning that by using it, we lose the least number of valid asteroids. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue GNC for the Moon, Mars, and Beyond)
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26 pages, 5974 KiB  
Article
Trajectory Optimization for the Nonholonomic Space Rover in Cluttered Environments Using Safe Convex Corridors
by
Yiqun Li
,
Shaoqiang Liang
,
Jiahui Gao
,
Zong Chen
,
Siyuan Qiao
and
Zhouping Yin
Aerospace 2023, 10(8), 705; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace10080705 - 11 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1426
Abstract
Due to the limitation of space rover onboard computing resources and energy, there is an urgent need for high-quality drive trajectories in complex environments, which can be provided by delicately designed motion optimization methods. The nonconvexity of the collision avoidance constraints poses a [...] Read more.
Due to the limitation of space rover onboard computing resources and energy, there is an urgent need for high-quality drive trajectories in complex environments, which can be provided by delicately designed motion optimization methods. The nonconvexity of the collision avoidance constraints poses a significant challenge to the optimization-based motion planning of nonholonomic vehicles, especially in unstructured cluttered environments. In this paper, a novel obstacle decomposition approach, which swiftly decomposes nonconvex obstacles into their constituent convex substructures while concurrently minimizing the proliferation of resultant subobstacles, is proposed. A safe convex corridor construction method is introduced to formulate the collision avoidance constraints. The numerical approximation methods are applied to transfer the resulting continuous motion optimization problem to a nonlinear programming problem (NLP). Simulation experiments are conducted to illustrate the feasibility and superiority of the proposed methods over the rectangle safe corridor method and the area method. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue GNC for the Moon, Mars, and Beyond)
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14 pages, 649 KiB  
Article
Application of Pulsar-Based Navigation for Deep-Space CubeSats
by
Andrea Malgarini
,
Vittorio Franzese
and
Francesco Topputo
Aerospace 2023, 10(8), 695; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace10080695 - 05 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 739
Abstract
This paper investigates the use of pulsar-based navigation for deep-space CubeSats. A novel approach for dealing with the onboard computation of navigational solutions and timekeeping capabilities of a spacecraft in a deep-space cruise is shown, and the related implementation and numerical simulations are [...] Read more.
This paper investigates the use of pulsar-based navigation for deep-space CubeSats. A novel approach for dealing with the onboard computation of navigational solutions and timekeeping capabilities of a spacecraft in a deep-space cruise is shown, and the related implementation and numerical simulations are discussed. The pulsar’s signal detection, processing, and exploitation are simulated for navigation onboard a spacecraft, thus showing the feasibility of autonomous state estimation in deep space even for miniaturized satellites. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue GNC for the Moon, Mars, and Beyond)
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24 pages, 14736 KiB  
Article
Low-Thrust Transfer to Quasi-Synchronous Martian Elliptic Orbit via Nonlinear Feedback Control
by
Riccardo Santoro
,
Marco Pustorino
and
Mauro Pontani
Aerospace 2023, 10(8), 670; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace10080670 - 27 Jul 2023
Viewed by 451
Abstract
This study considers the problem of injecting a spacecraft into an elliptic, repeating-ground-track orbit about Mars, starting from a 4-sol highly elliptical orbit, which is a typical Martian capture orbit, entered at the end of the interplanetary transfer. The final operational orbit has [...] Read more.
This study considers the problem of injecting a spacecraft into an elliptic, repeating-ground-track orbit about Mars, starting from a 4-sol highly elliptical orbit, which is a typical Martian capture orbit, entered at the end of the interplanetary transfer. The final operational orbit has apoares corresponding to the maximum (or minimum) latitude, and nine nodal periods are flown in 5 Martian nodal days. The orbit at hand is proven to guarantee coverage properties similar to the Molniya orbit about Earth; therefore, it is especially suitable for satellites that form constellations. Low-thrust nonlinear orbit control is proposed as an affordable and effective option for orbit injection, capable of attaining significant propellant reduction if compared to alternative strategies based on chemical propulsion. This work introduces a new, saturated feedback law for the low-thrust direction and magnitude that is capable of driving the spacecraft of interest toward the operational orbit. Remarkable stability properties are proven to hold using the Lyapunov stability theory. Because no reference path is to be identified a priori, this technique represents a viable autonomous guidance strategy, even in the case of temporary unavailability of the low-thrust propulsion system or in the presence of widely dispersed initial conditions and errors on estimating orbit perturbations. Monte Carlo simulations prove that the feedback guidance strategy at hand is effective and accurate for injecting a spacecraft into the desired, repeating-ground-track operational orbit without requiring any reference transfer path. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue GNC for the Moon, Mars, and Beyond)
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