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Space Domain Awareness

View of a rectangular prism satellite orbiting Earth, with a view of the planet's surface and atmosphere in the background on the right.
Our research enables perception, comprehension, and prediction of activities and phenomena in the near-Earth, cislunar, and interplanetary domains. We are active in developing novel techniques in astrodynamics and space surveillance and are addressing problems of space debris and space traffic management to ensure continued safe access to space. Our work encompasses advancements in fundamental astrodynamics, uncertainty propagation, data association, probabilistic inference, and sensor tasking for both single-target and multi-target problems.

Focus Areas

  • Astrodynamics
  • Bayesian Inference
  • Cislunar Dynamics
  • Data Association
  • Initial Orbit Determination
  • Multi-Target Tracking
  • Orbital Debris
  • Space Traffic Management
  • Uncertainty Propagation

Faculty and Research Staff

Terry Alfriend

  • Professor, Aerospace Engineering
  • Member, National Academy of Engineering
  • University Distinguished Professor
  • Regents Professor
  • Jack E. and Frances Brown Chair II
Terry Alfriend

Raktim Bhattacharya

  • Director, Graduate Studies Program, Aerospace Engineering
  • Professor, Aerospace Engineering
Raktim Bhattacharya

Suman Chakravorty

  • Professor, Aerospace Engineering
Suman Chakravorty

Kyle DeMars

  • Associate Department Head for Theoretical and Computational Research, Aerospace Engineering
  • Associate Professor, Aerospace Engineering
Kyle DeMars

John Junkins

  • Distinguished Professor of Aerospace Engineering
  • Member, National Academy of Engineering
  • Holder of the Royce E. Wisenbaker Chair
  • Regents Professor
  • Director, Hagler Institute for Advanced Study
John Junkins

Manoranjan Majji

  • Professor, Aerospace Engineering
  • Edward "Pete" Aldridge '60 Endowed Professor
  • Director, LASR Laboratory
Manoranjan Majji

Srinivas Rao Vadali

  • Professor, Aerospace Engineering
Srinivas Rao Vadali

Laboratories and Facilities

Estimation, Decision and Planning Laboratory

Our group’s research focuses on nonlinearity, dimensionality and uncertainty in estimation and control problems, with applications to mobile robotics, morphing aircraft and distributed parameter systems.

Intelligent Systems Research Laboratory

We focus on developing advanced algorithms and analytical methods to design next-generation autonomous systems operating in uncertain dynamic environments. We achieve these goals using theoretical tools from stochastic dynamical systems, robust control, nonlinear estimation, and convex optimization.

Faculty Supervisor: Raktim Bhattacharya

Website: isrlab.github.io

Land Air & Space Robotics (LASR) Laboratory

Located at Easterwood Airport, the LASR Lab sports many features of a world-class robotics facility. LASR Lab conducts research in robotic sensing and control with an aim to enhance the fields of proximity operations, human-robot interaction, stereo vision, swarm robotics, and autonomous aerial vehicles. The indoor robotics arena is the centerpiece of the lab, offering 2000 square feet of flat floor for ground robots. Twelve-foot ceilings give aerial vehicles plenty of room to maneuver. Black curtains, floors, walls, and ceiling simulate the outer space environment, where a single strong light source may provide illumination for realistic optical sensing experiments. A fabrication room and electronics workspace adjoin the main arena. The conference room and graduate student offices complete the package that this facility offers for any advanced robotics research program.

Faculty Supervisor: Manoranjan Majji

PROMETHEUS Laboratory

The PROMETHEUS Laboratory focuses on creating solutions for the estimation of uncertain systems. We develop new theoretical and algorithmic methods and apply them to problems ranging from spacecraft navigation to space domain awareness. We leverage information theoretic methods to address single-target and multi-target tracking problems.