Lab News

On Tuesday, 27 August, Niki delivered the second seminar of her PhD, presenting the results of a feasibility study on 6D pose estimation of PocketQubes using computer vision algorithms. Her research tackles the challenges posed by current satellite cameras and control systems, with the goal of integrating computer vision technologies into real-world satellite operations and mission design. Throughout her PhD, Niki has focused on space sustainability, particularly on estimating the pose (attitude and position) of very small satellites. Accurate pose estimation is crucial for enabling future Active Debris Removal (ADR) and On-Orbit Servicing (OOS) missions for debris of any size. [...]

Implementation of Asteroid Rendezvous Maneuver in a Hardware-in-the-Loop Platform With the increasing development of interplanetary missions and space explorations, the advancement of flight control, guidance, and navigation systems for space vehicles has gained significant importance. A project was undertaken to design, develop, and test a simulation platform for space maneuvers and proximity operations with an asteroid. Initially, a three-degree- of-freedom air-bearing testbed, including two translational and one rotational degrees of freedom, was constructed to simulate the operational environment of a spacecraft. Additionally, a "dark room" was equipped and set up to conduct the tests and operations, creating conditions that closely resemble [...]

On July 21, 2024, the  presentation of a seminar course for master's degree students in space engineering took place at the Space Research Laboratory. Five students presented their research projects. The students who presented were Moein Nazarabadian, Niloofar Parvaneh, Maryam HomayonNejad, Reza Seratjo, and Arshia Moftakharihajimirzaei. Each student shared their research topic with the audience.

In this course, one of the projects that grad. students work on during the semester, is the cubesat project. The goal is to assemble a simple cubesat and be able to test the designed controller for this system. The controller is only programmed to perform around the z axis of the cubesat ( only the yaw angle is controlled ). Here’s the package that the students need to assemble and test their cubesat: And here’s the package that has all the parts needed to achieve the required goal: To reach this goal [...]

Niki, our PhD student, is currently a visiting researcher at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). She is testing a real-sized PocketQube from the University of Luxembourg, using a 6DoF robot. By attaching the PocketQube to the robot’s end-effector and planning trajectories, her work aims to enhance vision-based satellite pose estimation using existing cameras in orbit.

“Spacecraft Design 1” is one of the main courses for master’s students . The students of this course (Maryam – Niloufar – Arshia – Reza – Moein) managed to finish the practical project of the spacecraft system design 1 course on wednesday May 29, 2024. The output of this project included 2 cubesats (one for each group) that successfully passed the control test steps. During this project, students were able to learn about the function of the parts used in cubesat by doing a series of activities. Also learn how to put them together to reach [...]

Sagar and Timoty the bachelor students, are presenting the results of their research. Doctor Akhloumady, the advisor of their work at Moscow physical and technology institute (MPTI), working with us to develop sustainable solutions for space exploration.

Today, an online meeting was held to collaborate with a team of students from the National University of Engineering of Peru headed by Mrtin Salazar. The participants of this meeting from K.N Toosi University of Technology were Dr. Mehran Mirshams (Professor of Space Engineering & Director of KNTU Space Research Laboratory) , Dr. Morteza Tayefi (Professor of Flight Dynamics and Control Engineering & ADCS lead of KNTU Space Research Laboratory), Arshiya and Moein (space engineering students). The main focus of this meeting was to review the initial simulations of Cubesat's ADCS subsystem and analyze its challenges. This cubesat, [...]