Autonomous Navigation for Asteroid Exploration

In recent years, asteroids have become a focus of scientific interest due to their place as time capsules to the beginning of the solar system. Additional interest has been garnered due to planetary defense and for the possibility of using asteroids for resource-utilization. Asteroid exploration missions deal with significant challenges due to uncertainties associated with the dynamical environment surrounding asteroids and communication time latencies. Current missions to asteroids rely on the use of large communication relays like the Deep Space Network (DSN) in order to aid in spacecraft guidance and navigation. Being able to conduct robust spacecraft navigation while exploring and mapping the asteroid’s properties would further enable cheaper and more reliable asteroid exploration missions in the future. Our work focuses on utilizing multi-satellite formations using relative measurements that leverage the inherent perturbations in the dynamical environment around asteroids to induce state observability and improve navigation performance.