Does your Twitter feed not have enough space in it? Introducing Space Bot A new twitter bot dedicated to all things space. What Space Bot Does So Far Plots ground tracks for random objects in space Shows the two objects likeliest to collied that day, as well as when their closest approach will be. Note:…
A few month’s ago Primer, a great youtube channel that you should check out, posted the following question on Twitter Before I go over my thinking and then show some numerical simulations, take a moment and think it over. If you’ve already got the answer you can check out other numerical probability puzzles here. My…
Last week in my lab’s journal club I was presenting on two white papers detailing the reasoning for possible missions to explore the outer solar system. These papers are part of the Astro2020 decadal survey, and I figured I would share some thoughts on them here. As both papers are short (<10 pages each) and…
A few weeks ago I attended the 2019 AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialists Conference (ASC). This was my first major academic conference in grad school and I was there presenting on my research on using neural networks for optimal control with a special focus on their resilience to missed thrust events. Where Was I? The Astrodynamics Specialist…
Space is Hard From ionizing radiation to micrometeoroids, space is a dangerous place. Most spacecraft, when they feel threatened, can autonomously enter into a protective operating mode call safe mode. Different spacecraft do different things in safe mode, but most turn off all non-essential components, like propulsion and the payload, to focus all energy on…
Inverted Pendulum Recap In this post, we’re going to talk a little about how to balance an inverted pendulum on a cart. This is the second post in a 3 part series about balancing an inverted pendulum Part 1 – Balancing an inverted pendulum Part 2 – Swing-Up of an Inverted Pendulum on a Cart…
A Quick Estimate A few days ago I was invited to take part in a mock architecture study looking at Deep Space CubeSat missions. As a multi-body dynamics fanboy, my heart jumped at the possibility of using the interplanetary superhighway to preserve our meager delta-V budget. The downside of using the interplanetary superhighway is that…
Space Debris From dead satellites to flecks of paint, there are over 500,000 pieces of space debris currently being tracked. Space debris, and the problems they can cause is a hot topic with everything from a major Hollywood movie to TED talks being given about them. In this post I’m going to go over a less…
Welcome! Welcome to the 169th edition of the Carnival of Mathematics! This monthly roundup of some of the best and latest math blogs. As per tradition let’s begin with some trivia about the number 169. It’s a square! And if we reverse every number above, it still remains a square Blogs First up we…
This Thursday, April 11th, a washing machine sized-spacecraft will attempt to land on the Moon. If it succeeds, it will be the first privately funded spacecraft on the Moon, and make Israel the fourth country to land on the Moon after Russia/USSR, the USA, and China. This post will go over the basics of what…
