Fiscal Year	2016
Division	Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department	Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Investigator(s)	Ross, Isaac M.
Sponsor	Department of Defense Space (DoD)
Summary	The primary research objective of this proposal is to develop an algorithm that autonomously slews to an arbitrary spot while simultaneously avoiding occultation of star trackers and other sensors on a spacecraft. The concept for this proposed research was inspired by the successful results of our students’ work in robotics: this proposal seeks to adapt the NPS obstacle avoidance algorithm for space applications. The occultation constraints will be posed as “obstacles” that the spacecraft needs to avoid along its angular path. Once developed, this approach can replace the current practice of an “operator-in-the-loop” to an “operator-on-the-loop”; the former is not autonomous while the latter is both autonomous and efficient.
Keywords	Control and Optimization
Publications	Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data	Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal