Space-Flight Autonomous Leading CONcepts (Space-FALCON) Lab

Projects

Projects

Selected problems and projects that show how the thrusts appear in concrete mission settings.

Thrust 1 + Thrust 3

Differential-Drag Constellation Control

Propellant-free control of distributed spacecraft that uses atmospheric drag as meaningful control authority for constellation geometry and reconfiguration.

@ constellations @ GNC @ weak-force control
Paper

Thrust 2 + Thrust 3

Autonomous Aerobraking with Deep RL

Onboard aerobraking maneuver selection under uncertainty using deep reinforcement learning for adaptive mission execution.

@ deep RL @ onboard autonomy @ atmospheric flight
Paper

Thrust 1

CAPO: Control and Actuator Placement Optimization

Optimization of control authority and actuator layout for large-scale nonlinear systems with mission-level constraints.

@ optimization @ nonlinear dynamics @ control
Paper

Thrust 3

Rendezvous MPC on Elliptic Orbits

Model predictive control for rendezvous with on/off thrusters in constrained elliptic-orbit scenarios.

@ MPC @ rendezvous @ GNC
Paper

Thrust 3

Adaptive Entry Guidance

Guidance methods that adapt atmospheric entry behavior under uncertainty and changing mission conditions.

@ guidance @ atmospheric dynamics @ robustness
Paper

Enabling Platform

SpaceAGORA for High-Fidelity Mission Evaluation

Julia-based simulation for comparing mission dynamics, perturbations, autonomy behavior, and mission outcomes across challenging scenarios.

@ simulation @ Julia @ mission evaluation
Platform