Two-layer gravity inversion on Mars: Three different inversion methods to obtain a global density model of the crust and upper mantle of Mars

The origin of the Martian dichotomy is subject to question and no substantial evidence exists. Some surface and interior features that are not visible in, e.g., topography data, can show up in gravity data. Therefore, this research inverts gravity data to find a crustal and mantle global density model. Previous research performed a one-layer...

Collision Probability through Orbital Uncertainty Propagation: The Hybrid Differential Algebra and Gaussian Mixture Model Approach

The number of space objects has largely increased in the recent years, becoming a considerable threat to the present and future of satellite operations and human spaceflight. This introduces a need to accurately compute the risk of collision between satellites and space debris. Current methodologies are limited by the type of encounter and the...

Transfer of Polarized Light in Extended Atmospheres: Applied to Exoplanets and Titan

We have developed, from scratch, a 3D radiative transfer code based on the Monte Carlo method, that fully takes into account the spherical shape of a planetary atmosphere, multiple scattering, and the polarized nature of light. Accounting for the sphericity of an atmosphere is important for the analysis of observations near the planetary limb...

Extending Attitude Estimation Capability for Agile Precision Target Tracking NanoSats: Hardware Characterisation, Configuration Selection, and Gyro-Stellar based Unscented Calibration Filter Synthesis

Though NanoSats are becoming increasingly capable of featuring active payloads, and acquiring inertial data at arcsec level precision; the payload operational duty-cycle largely remains limited by its data downlink capabilities. NanoSat laser communication terminal (LCT) promises 1 Gbps data downlink capabilities. However, LEO to ground free...

Examining the deformation in the Krafla region, Iceland: To get an insight on the recent changes in the observed deformation pattern

In the Krafla region in North East Iceland, a change in the deformation pattern was observed in 2018. Since the 1975-1984 rifting event, there was subsidence seen in the Krafla caldera and along the fissure swarm. This subsidence was explained by deflation which decreased exponentially along the years. In 2018, this deformation pattern reversed,...

Rotating Rayleigh-Bénard convection in uniform and non-uniform spherical shells

Saturn’s moon Enceladus harbours a global subsurface ocean beneath its icy crust. Tidal dissipation within the moon’s core generates a substantial amount of heat which leads to ocean convection. Observations of the moon indicate ocean thickness variations of up to 20 km from equator to pole and heterogeneous heat generation within the core...

Finding similarities between the deep mantle structures of Earth & Mercury

Large Low Shear-Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs) in Earth have been recognized in seismic data for several decades. The anomalies are however still poorly understood for reasons including their inconvenient location in the deep mantle, inhibiting progress in our understanding. Comprehension of these structures is important, because of their...

Expected accuracy of Mars rotation and orientation estimation from TGO orbit determination

The Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment (RISE) on the InSight lander and the LaRa experiment on the ExoMars platform will provide precise measurements (accuracies of a few mas) of the rotation of Mars, in terms of the Mars rotation and orientation parameters (MOP). These parameters include the rate of precession and the amplitudes of the...

Analysing the polarisation sensitivity of the Near Infrared Spectrograph on board the James Webb Space Telescope

The objective of this master thesis research project is to determine the overall polarisation sensitivity of the Near Infrared Spectograph (NIRSpec) on board the JamesWebb Space Telescope (JWST). Understanding the polarisation sensitivity is important to correctly interpret the output data and accurately calibrate the instrument during...

Development of a numerical model for the Sumatra subduction zone constrained by satellite gravimetry: with special focus on gravity sensitivity studies

Satellite-derived gravity models have been used in modelling of several subduction zones, but not yet for the Sumatra subduction zone. There, gravity models can shed light on the geometry and density of the plate, and whether a slab tear is present under northern Sumatra, as seismic and tomographic studies present contradicting conclusions.<br/>...

Finding trim points of the ICE model using interval analysis

In this work interval analysis is applied to the thirteen control effector Innovative Control Effectors model to find its trim set. The method to find trim states is based on interval box consistency. At low speed the method is capable of finding interval enclosures of single trim points with a high accuracy if the minimum number of required...