Project Description:

As the frontiers of robotic space exploration expand in our Solar System, the demand for space autonomy has been increasing in order to enable more efficient space exploration with minimal ground contacts. A primary challenge in space autonomy is to ensure its safety and resilience under uncertainty. Such safety is particularly important when the spacecraft has to operate in challenging dynamical environments such as cislunar space (a region around the Earth-Moon system) and the vicinity of minor celestial bodies. For instance, mission design and operations of spacecraft in cislunar space have to be robust against maneuver execution errors and undesirable events such as engine failures, while dealing with the chaotic, nonlinear nature of the multi-body dynamical environment.

The objective of this project is to develop mathematical and computational frameworks that enable safe, autonomous spacecraft operations under operational constraints and uncertainties. A key of the research is to combine various methodologies from different areas, including, but not limited to, stochastic systems, controls, optimization, and astrodynamics. An emphasis will be placed on the theoretical analysis and development of the control/planning frameworks that advance the state of the art of stochastic optimal control and space autonomy.

Start Date:

Spring/Summer/Fall 2023

Postdoc Qualifications:

Successful candidates must hold a Ph.D. in Aerospace, Electrical, Mechanical Engineering, or in a related area by the date of the position start. Solid mathematical skills and background in relevant areas such as control, optimization, uncertainty quantification, and astrodynamics are preferred. Experience in spacecraft GNC or space mission design will be also a plus.

Co-Advisors:

Kenshiro Oguri
- Email: koguri@purdue.edu
- Affiliation: Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
- URL: https://engineering.purdue.edu/OguriGroup

Jianghai Hu
- Email: jianghai@purdue.edu
- Affiliation: Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
- URL: https://engineering.purdue.edu/~jianghai/ 

Outside Collaborators:

Gregory Lantoine
- Affiliation: Mission Design Engineer, Mission Design and Navigation
Section, NASA JPL/Caltech
- Contact: Gregory.Lantoine@jpl.nasa.gov

Bibliography:

- K. Oguri and J. W. McMahon, “Stochastic Primer Vector for Robust Low-Thrust Trajectory Design Under Uncertainty,” Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 2022
- K. Oguri, G. Lantoine, and T. H. Sweetser, “Robust Solar Sail Trajectory Design under Uncertainty with Application to NEA Scout Mission,” in AIAA SCITECH Forum, 2022
- K. Oguri, and J. W. McMahon, "Robust Spacecraft Guidance Around Small Bodies Under Uncertainty: Stochastic Optimal Control Approach," Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 2021
- K. Oguri, M. Ono, and J. W. McMahon, "Convex Optimization over Sequential Linear Feedback Policies with Continuous-Time Chance Constraints," 2019 IEEE 58th Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), 2019
- J. Hu, J. Shen and D.-H. Lee, "Resilient stabilization of switched linear control systems against adversarial switching," IEEE Trans. Automatic Control, 2017