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Aerospace
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Space Navigation and Control Technologies
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Space Navigation and Control Technologies

A special issue of Aerospace (ISSN 2226-4310). This special issue belongs to the section "Astronautics & Space Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2024) | Viewed by 4862

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xin Ma

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Instrumentation and Optoelectronic Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
Interests: space navigation technologies; celestial navigation; pulsar navigation
Dr. Wei Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, NO. 3888 Yuanjiang Road, Minhang District, Shanghai, China
Interests: spacecraft navigation and control; deep-space exploration
Dr. Dongyu Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Cyber Science and Technolgoy, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
Interests: UAV intelligent and application
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Space exploration is an important direction for human spaceflight activities in the new era, and it represents an inevitable means for human beings to explore the unknown universe. Navigation technology realizes the localization of moving objects by measuring position parameters. Control technology is at the core of a spacecraft's ability to independently perform complex tasks in a space environment. Space navigation and control technology play a crucial role, which is conducive to promoting the sustainable development of space technology and enhancing the ability of human beings to enter space. With the development of deep space navigation technology, requirements for precise, real-time, and visible navigation and control are becoming more intense.

This Special Issue of Aerospace will introduce the latest developments in the field of deep space navigation and control technology and will provide a platform for researchers and practitioners to discuss cutting-edge technologies and key challenges in the field of space navigation and control technologies. We invite submissions from academia and industry professionals on theoretical and practical issues related to space navigation and control technologies. We also welcome articles on other topics related to aerospace systems.

Dr. Xin Ma
Dr. Wei Zhang
Dr. Dongyu Li
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Aerospace is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • autonomous navigation
  • integrated navigation
  • celestial navigation
  • pulsar navigation
  • optical navigation
  • maneuver control
  • networked spacecraft cooperation
  • adaptive systems
  • robotic control

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 24213 KiB  
Article
Optical Image Generation Through Digital Terrain Models for Autonomous Lunar Navigation
by Michele Ceresoli, Stefano Silvestrini and Michèle Lavagna
Aerospace 2025, 12(2), 92; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace12020092 - 27 Jan 2025
Viewed by 419
Abstract
In recent years, Vision-Based Navigation (VBN) techniques have emerged as a fundamental component to enable autonomous spacecraft operations, particularly in challenging environments such as planetary landings, where ground control may be limited or unavailable. Developing and testing VBN algorithms requires the availability of [...] Read more.
In recent years, Vision-Based Navigation (VBN) techniques have emerged as a fundamental component to enable autonomous spacecraft operations, particularly in challenging environments such as planetary landings, where ground control may be limited or unavailable. Developing and testing VBN algorithms requires the availability of a large number of realistic images of the application scenario; however, these are rarely available. This paper presents a novel rendering software tool to generate accurate synthetic optical images of the lunar surface by leveraging high-resolution Digital Terrain Models (DTMs). Unlike traditional ray-tracing algorithms, the method iteratively propagates camera rays to determine their intersection with the terrain surface defined by a Digital Elevation Model (DEM). The color information is then retrieved from the corresponding Digital Orthophoto Model (DOM) through the knowledge of the ray impact points, bypassing the need for the costly computation of shadows, reflections, and refractions effects. The rendering performance is demonstrated through a comprehensive selection of images of the lunar surface under different illumination conditions and camera orientations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Navigation and Control Technologies)
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18 pages, 2320 KiB  
Article
Comprehensive Measurement of Position and Velocity in the Transverse Direction Using the Crab Pulsar
by Yuan Feng, Huanzi Zhang, Jianfeng Chen, Jin Liu and Xin Ma
Aerospace 2024, 11(6), 498; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace11060498 - 20 Jun 2024
Viewed by 857
Abstract
Traditional X-ray pulsar ranging and velocity measurement methods only estimate the radial position and velocity information of the pulsar. For non-linear orbits, errors in the transverse position and velocity of the pulsar lead to errors in the radial velocity of the pulsar, leading [...] Read more.
Traditional X-ray pulsar ranging and velocity measurement methods only estimate the radial position and velocity information of the pulsar. For non-linear orbits, errors in the transverse position and velocity of the pulsar lead to errors in the radial velocity of the pulsar, leading to distortion of the X-ray pulsar profile. Based on this, we propose using the distortion of the pulsar profile to infer the transverse position and velocity information of the pulsar. First, a model of the distortion of the pulsar profile due to errors in the transverse position and velocity is established, and the observable directions of the transverse position and velocity are given separately. Then, considering that the distortions in the pulsar profile caused by errors in the transverse position and velocity are indistinguishable, we establish a reactive motion state measure related to the observable directions for the transverse position and velocity errors as a new observable measure in X-ray pulsar navigation. The experimental results show that the precision of the reactive motion state measure reaches 0.57, equivalent to a position error of 284.50 m or a velocity error of 0.57 m/s. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Navigation and Control Technologies)
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29 pages, 2080 KiB  
Article
Summary of Lunar Constellation Navigation and Orbit Determination Technology
by Xiao Zhang, Zhaowei Sun, Xiao Chen, Linxin Pan and Yubin Zhong
Aerospace 2024, 11(6), 497; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace11060497 - 20 Jun 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1670
Abstract
The Moon is the closest celestial body to the Earth. Its rich unique resources are an important supplement to the Earth’s resources and have a profound impact on the sustainable development of human society. As large-scale exploration missions gradually progress, demands for communication, [...] Read more.
The Moon is the closest celestial body to the Earth. Its rich unique resources are an important supplement to the Earth’s resources and have a profound impact on the sustainable development of human society. As large-scale exploration missions gradually progress, demands for communication, navigation, surveying and other services of lunar-space probes have significantly increased. Constellation navigation and orbit determination technology will become an indispensable part of future lunar exploration infrastructure. This article systematically analyzes the current status of lunar relay navigation satellite networks at home and abroad, summarizes the technical principles of single-satellite and constellation navigation and orbit determination, discusses the technical difficulties in lunar navigation constellation orbit determination and navigation, and analyzes possible solutions. Finally, the development trend of research on high-precision orbit determination and navigation methods for lunar navigation constellations is proposed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Navigation and Control Technologies)
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15 pages, 38862 KiB  
Article
Crater Triangle Matching Algorithm Based on Fused Geometric and Regional Features
by Mingda Jin and Wei Shao
Aerospace 2024, 11(6), 417; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace11060417 - 21 May 2024
Viewed by 961
Abstract
Craters are regarded as significant navigation landmarks during the descent and landing process in small body exploration missions for their universality. Recognizing and matching craters is a crucial prerequisite for visual and LIDAR-based navigation tasks. Compared to traditional algorithms, deep learning-based crater detection [...] Read more.
Craters are regarded as significant navigation landmarks during the descent and landing process in small body exploration missions for their universality. Recognizing and matching craters is a crucial prerequisite for visual and LIDAR-based navigation tasks. Compared to traditional algorithms, deep learning-based crater detection algorithms can achieve a higher recognition rate. However, matching crater detection results under various image transformations still poses challenges. To address the problem, a composite feature-matching algorithm that combines geometric descriptors and region descriptors (extracting normalized region pixel gradient features as feature vectors) is proposed. First, the geometric configuration map is constructed based on the crater detection results. Then, geometric descriptors and region descriptors are established within each feature primitive of the map. Subsequently, taking the salience of geometric features into consideration, composite feature descriptors with scale, rotation, and illumination invariance are generated through fusion geometric and region descriptors. Finally, descriptor matching is accomplished by computing the relative distances between descriptors and adhering to the nearest neighbor principle. Experimental results show that the composite feature descriptor proposed in this paper has better matching performance than only using shape descriptors or region descriptors, and can achieve a more than 90% correct matching rate, which can provide technical support for the small body visual navigation task. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Space Navigation and Control Technologies)
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