Cislunar Orbit Determination and Tracking via Simulated Space-Based Measurements

Cislunar Orbit Determination and Tracking via Simulated Space-Based Measurements

Sep 14, 2021 | Papers & Presentations

Michael R. Thompson, Nathan P. Ré, Cameron Meek, Bradley Cheetham

ABSTRACT

Building on previous work in cislunar orbit determination at Advanced Space, this paper demonstrates cislunar orbit determination via simulated optical measurements from another spacecraft in cislunar space. The goal of this work is to evaluate the potential performance (in terms of the uncertainties in the state of a target object) of space-based optical tracking filters in the vicinity of the Moon.

Presented at the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies (AMOS) 2021 Conference

Download the Paper

Advanced Space Celebrates Confirmation for ESCAPADE – Twin Mars Mission

Aug 24, 2021 | ESCAPADE Mission

Unique mission design aids in success of the science team

Westminster, CO (August 23, 2021) Advanced Space is pleased to be a part of the team led by the University of California, Berkeley, on the NASA Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission. Advanced Space has supported ESCAPADE’s mission design through many design cycles, seeking ways to make this new approach to planetary exploration successful. The Advanced Space team not only ensured ESCAPADE is set up for success but also performed under a tightly constrained schedule. ESCAPADE has now been confirmed by NASA in the Key Decision Point C review. This critical review assessed launch readiness based on the preliminary mission design; the confirmation means ESCAPADE will progress to launch.  (more…)

NASA Administrator highlights contributions of Colorado industry and academia

NASA Administrator highlights contributions of Colorado industry and academia

Aug 24, 2021 | CAPSTONE Mission, External News

Advanced Space shares small business success with NASA partnership

In addition to testing a unique orbit for NASA’s lunar Gateway, Colorado small business Advanced Space is preparing to demonstrate a new approach for cislunar navigation.

As part of the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission, scheduled to launch later this year on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket, Advanced Space plans to show how the CAPSTONE cubesat can work with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to perform peer-to-peer navigation.

Read more at spacenews.com

35th Annual SmallSat Conference (Virtual) – 2021

35th Annual SmallSat Conference (Virtual) – 2021

Aug 7, 2021 | Papers & Presentations

Advanced Space: Thomas Gardner, Brad Cheetham, Alec Forsman, Cameron Meek, Ethan Kayser, Jeff Parker, Michael Thompson
Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems: Tristan Latchu, Rebecca Rogers
Stellar Exploration: Brennan Bryant, Tomas Svitek

ABSTRACT

The cislunar environment is about to get much busier and with this increase in traffic comes an increase in the demand for limited resources such as Earth based tracking of and communications with assets operating in and around the Moon. With the number of NASA, commercial, and international missions to the Moon growing rapidly in the next few years, the need to make these future endeavors as efficient as possible is a challenge that is being solved now. Advanced Space is aiming to mitigate these resource limitations by enabling the numerous spacecraft in the cislunar environment to navigate autonomously and reduce the need for oversubscribed ground assets for navigation and maneuver planning. Scheduled to launch on a Rocket Lab Electron in October 2021, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission will leverage a 12U CubeSat to demonstrate both the core software for the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS) as well as a validation of the mission design and operations of the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) that NASA has baselined for the Artemis Lunar Gateway architecture. Currently being developed in a Phase III of NASA’s SBIR program, our CAPS software will allow missions to manage themselves and enable more critical communications to be prioritized between Earth and future cislunar missions without putting these missions at increased risk. (more…)

Advanced Space Passes Preparatory Test for Pathfinder Mission to the Moon

Aug 2, 2021 | CAPSTONE Mission

Key milestone paves the way for team to lead mission.

Westminster, CO (August 2, 2021) Advanced Space LLC., a leading commercial space solutions company, is overseeing the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, or CAPSTONE, a NASA-supported mission to orbit the Moon. CAPSTONE is a small satellite, or CubeSat, that will be the first spacecraft to test a unique, elliptical lunar orbit that will support NASA’s Moon missions under Artemis.

(more…)
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