Abstract The use of Electric Propulsion (EP) on satellites for commercial, defense, and space
science missions has been increasing in recent decades, from the first successful operation …

Asteroids' and comets' geodesy is a challenging yet important task for planetary science and
spacecraft operations, such as ESA's Hera mission tasked to look at the aftermath of the …

NASA's Psyche mission will launch in 2022 and begin a 3.6-year cruise to the metallic
asteroid Psyche, where it will examine this unique body. The baseline spacecraft design is a …

Heaterless hollow cathodes are increasingly attractive for low-power electric propulsion
systems due to their compact size and lack of a heater and associated power supply which …

Magnetically shielded miniature (MaSMi) is a low power (≤ 1 kW) long life (> 100 kg Xe
throughput) magnetically shielded Hall thruster that features an internally mounted hollow …

Abstract Hera represents the European Space Agency's inaugural planetary defense space
mission and plays a pivotal role in the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment …

When a spacecraft visits a new planetary body, it is useful to know the properties of its shape
and gravity field. This knowledge helps predict the magnitude of the perturbations in the …

This paper develops a novel fuel-optimal guidance scheme using differential algebraic
techniques that is capable of handling changes in the optimal thrust sequence, in addition to …

Metallic asteroids, the exposed cores of disrupted planetesimals, are expected to have been
exposed while still molten. Some would have cooled from the outside in, crystallizing a …

A new development model MaSMi Hall thruster, which utilizes a compact internally-mounted
hollow cathode, was designed, fabricated, and tested. The low-current cathode …