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search.filters.applied.f.advisor: Gunter, Brian C. × End date: 2020 × Start date: 2020 × search.filters.applied.f.isOrgUnitOfPublicationTitle: Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering × search.filters.applied.f.resourcesubtype: Masters Project ×

Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Gravity Science Requirements for Future Icy/Ocean Worlds SmallSats Missions
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-12-20) Nassif, Mohamed
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    Gravity Science Requirements for Future Icy/Ocean Worlds SmallSats Missions
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-12-15) Nassif, Mohamed
    Over the past decade, there has been growing interest in developing mission concepts designed to explore the icy satellites of the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn, some of which harbor a subsurface ocean and are geologically active, such as Europa, Enceladus and Titan. While the Galileo and Cassini missions provided data that helped improve our understanding of these bodies, these missions were not dedicated for icy moons exploration and hence many questions were left unanswered. These bodies are complex and less understood than terrestrial planets and have unique features of their own. In addition, the presence of an ocean makes these bodies key destinations in the search for life elsewhere in the Solar System. Measurement of a celestial body’s gravity field provides fundamental information on the body’s internal structure including mass distribution, tectonic process and thermal evolution. Prior gravity science experiments have enabled the development of gravity field models of various bodies such as Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Europa, Saturn, Titan and Enceladus. While gravity science alone cannot constrain the interior models due to its non-uniqueness, gravity data combined with additional measurement data such as altimetry and topography mapping can provide a better understanding of these complex worlds and their interactions with their parent planet. This paper discusses the current knowledge and unknowns of icy moons with a focus on Europa and Enceladus and proposes science objectives needed for a SmallSat icy moons exploration missions and potential measurement techniques for improved gravity science return.
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    Optical Satellite Orbit Determination from Geographically Dispersed Sensors
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-05) Renegar, Luke
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    A Survey of Free Space Optical Communications in Satellites
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-05) Hall, Stephen
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    SDA Visible Range Object Detection Performance Optimization Under Urban Environment
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-05-01) Wu, Devin
    The ability to track and detect Resident Space Objects (RSO) is essential for maintaining a comprehensive Space Domain Awareness (SDA), especially with the exponential increase in popularity and population of the smaller format satellites. The Georgia Tech Space Object Research Telescope (GT-SORT) maintained by the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering is one of the unique university-owned raven class telescope facilities dedicated to SDA research tasks. Located on the Georgia Tech campus near downtown Atlanta, the GT SORT observation site has the advantage of high accessibility for researchers and students alike; however, it suffers from artificial light pollution more so than other traditional observatories. A performance optimization on RSO detection of the facility is therefore critical to extrapolate its full potential. Previous effort has shown that observations of common RSO material, such as gold, white paint, and various types of solar panels, yields the highest limiting magnitude in the near infrared (NIR) and the short wave infrared (SWIR) region [1]. However, the widely used CMOS based camera sensor has a relative quantum efficiency characteristic that drops below 10% at 950nm and above, and the SWIR cameras with mega pixel or higher resolution capability are enlisted under ITAR restricted technology, which restricts the availability of such sensor type data for the general public and for fundamental research purpose. Therefore, spectral optimization within the CMOS camera capability on common RSO surface material types are performed in this study along with collected spectral satellite data to support the optimized model
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    A Survey of Free Space Optical Communications in Satellites
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-03-05) Hall, Stephen
    Free space optical (FSO) communications is an up and coming set of technologies that promises significantly higher data rates at lower size, weight, and power than currently achievable by RF communications. FSO communications in satellites has been a subject of research for decades. It is strongly believed that FSO communications will be incorporated in next generation communications relay satellites and that FSO communications will enable new types of interplanetary missions previously infeasible due to bandwidth or power restrictions. FSO technologies are becoming mature enough to be fielded for use and represent a complex trade space of new components and technologies. This paper presents an overview of concepts in satellite FSO communications including deep space communica tions, pointing, cloud coverage, modulation, and detection, and discusses the current devices and technologies that enable FSO communications.