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You are invited to hear
Associate Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department
University of Florida
Wednesday, November 1 @ 3 p.m.
Montgomery Knight Room 317
Abstract:
Imagine a world where every ground vehicle depleting its fuel or malfunctioning is abandoned on the road. In the space domain, this type of scenario has been unfolding since the Sputnik, particularly in Earth orbits ranging from upper LEO to GEO (low Earth to geostationary/geosynchronous orbits).
I will start the talk presenting one of the research thrusts of the Advanced Autonomous Multiple Spacecraft (ADAMUS) laboratory: propellant-less control of spacecraft formation flying via atmospheric differential drag (DD) forces. The exploitation of residual drag forces in LEO for control purposes has been one of the focuses of the ADAMUS group for several years. This has led to innovative control strategies, ways to forecast the behavior of the LEO atmosphere, new ideas for space environment modeling, and novel spacecraft designs.
After presenting the technical details of DD, I will switch gears and tackle the problem of space debris. In fact, the tools and skillsets developed during these years attracted the attention of NASA, and I will illustrate how ADAMUS and NASA are now shaping the future of propellant-less fine control of spacecraft removal from LEO and above.
I will conclude describing plans for the future, including the desire to create new standards for satellite designers and operators, for a responsible use of space.
Dr. Riccardo Bevilacqua is an Associate Professor of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, at the University of Florida. He previously served as Assistant Professor at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He holds a M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering (2002), and a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics (2007), both from the University of Rome, "Sapienza", Italy. Dr. Bevilacqua is the recipient of two Young Investigator Awards, from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (2012) and the Office of Naval Research (2013), of the 2014 Dave Ward Memorial Lecture Award from the Aerospace Controls and Guidance Systems Committee, and of two Air Force Summer Fellowships (2012 and 2015). His research interests focus on spacecraft formation flight and space robotics and he has authored and co-authored more than 80 journal and conference publications on the topic. Dr. Bevilacqua is a corresponding member of the IAA and an associate fellow of the AIAA.
