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Van den Broeck, Michael (author)The use of Taylor Series Integration (TSI) for the propagation of spacecraft trajectories and its combination with the relatively unknown Unified State Model (USM) coordinate system, resulting in the TSI-USM propagator, is known to allow fast propagation of interplanetary low-thrust trajectories. Unfortunately, the TSI-USM propagator is a...master thesis 2017
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Jimenez Lluva, David (author)Electric Propulsion (EP) has become one of the most efficient technologies for spacecraft propulsion. In contrast to conventional chemical propulsion, the low thrust force generated by EP thrusters can deliver a momentum transfer to the spacecraft that is up to twenty times greater, for an equivalent propellant expenditure. Despite decades of...master thesis 2017
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Vroom, Aram (author)Over the past years, numerous missions for spacecraft with low-thrust propulsion have been planned to include large orbital plane changes. In order efficiently generate and evaluate orbits for such missions, use can be made of the spherical shaping method proposed by Novak. When inclinations larger than 15 degrees are present however, the error...master thesis 2017
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Zhou, Bingyu (author)Autonomous driving is one of the popular and advanced research fields aiming to reduce the mortality rate and improve the welfare and efficiency of commuters' lives. As one of the important research branches of self-driving cars, this thesis focuses on the motion planning problems in dynamic and uncertain environments. The challenge of motion...master thesis 2017
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Aragay I Verdeny, Monica (author)The search for life in other celestial bodies has always been a topic of great interest within the scientific community. The curiosity to know if we are the only ones in the universe or not has driven the development of many engineering projects. This Master Thesis is meant to do its bit in this research field. Europa, a moon of Jupiter, is...master thesis 2017
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Galletti, Elena (author)The increasing interest in solar electric propulsion techniques, that enable significant propellant mass savings for a wide class of transfers, has brought about a revolution in the approach to trajectory design and optimization, as a result of the complexity and diversity of the problem. To date, solutions of different nature exist, but...master thesis 2017
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Di Campli Bayard de Volo, Giuseppe (author)Given the current technological limitations, launch missions are extremely costly: rockets are huge, being about 100 times more massive than the payload, and most of the times expendable. The specific cost required to place a spacecraft in LEO is between 10 and 25 k€/kg. Consequently, trajectory optimization plays a major role in the design of a...master thesis 2017
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Greco, Cristian (author)Electric low-thrust propulsion has nowadays found wide application in space dynamics as it entails considerable savings in spacecraft propellant mass, thanks to the very high specific impulse that this kind of engine is able to generate. However, continuous thrust opens new extensive sets of feasible trajectories, and optimization algorithms are...master thesis 2017
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Spillenaar Bilgen, Jesper (author)The main goal of any launch vehicle is to bring as much payload to space as possible. Space planes have been studied for decades, as they are thought to be more cost effective for frequent access to space than traditional expendable launchers. This research aims at optimizing the payload capacity of a single stage to orbit (SSTO) horizontal take...master thesis 2017
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Wang, Siying (author)UAVs(Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) have gained popularity in various fields, and many applications require the drones to perform tasks in indoor environments. One major challenge in UAV indoor guidance is the absence of accurate GPS(Global Positioning System)<br/>signals. In this work, a novel guidance method is investigated which uses a library of...master thesis 2017
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Stolwijk, Joris (author)A Hybrid Optimal Control (HOC) framework which can be used in conjunction with existing optimal control software is presented. By using hybrid optimal control theory, trajectory optimization problems for systems that are both discrete time and continuous time from a mathematical perspective can be solved. A case study on multi-aircraft formation...master thesis 2017
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Cruz Chambel de Aguiar, Gonçalo (author)The phenomenon by which a spacecraft can both approach a celestial body and start performing revolutions around it, without needing to manoeuvre in between, is known as ballistic capture. For ballistic capture to take place, the spacecraft must be under the gravitational influence of at least 2 celestial bodies. Therefore, it is possible to...master thesis 2017
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Carzana, Livio (author)When sunlight illuminates a body, a tiny pressure is exerted upon its surface due to the photons impacting on it. Such a principle forms the basis of solar sailing, in which the solar radiation pressure is used to accelerate highly reflective lightweight structures called solar sails. Similarly, a laser-enhanced solar sail is a solar sail in...master thesis 2017
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Emmanouil, Antonis (author)Sediment nourishments have become an attractive alternative to hard measures in counteracting long-term river bed degradation. Due to the large degree of uncertainty concerning mixed sediment morphodynamics, river authorities conduct field studies to collect data that will help in the calibration of morphological models, eventually used to...master thesis 2017
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Raipuria, Geetank (author)An autonomous vehicle should be able to operate amidst numerous other human-driven vehicles, each driving on its own trajectory. To safely navigate in such a dynamic environment, the autonomous vehicle should be able to predict trajectories of the vehicles operating in its vicinity and use these to plan its own path. Most related work uses a...master thesis 2017
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Snapper, Eloy (author)This report presents the results of the graduation thesis from the TU Delft, performed at the Integrated Vehicle Safety department of TNO. The goal of this graduation project is to develop a unified path planning and tracking method for autonomous vehicles in highway driving scenarios, by making use of Artificial Potential Fields (APFs).<br/><br...master thesis 2018
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Minguijon Pallas, Pablo (author)Missions to Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are a growing trend in spaceflight. The interest for such bodies is not only justified by the threat that they represent for the Earth, but also because they are potential sources of extra-terrestrial materials, provide windows to the past of the Solar System and to planetary formation, and offer a good...master thesis 2018
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Vergaaij, Merel (author)Recent studies have shown the feasibility of (quasi-)pole-sitter orbits at Mars and Venus, which involves a satellite positioned along or near the polar axis of a planet in order to have a continuous, hemispherical view of the planet's polar regions. In order to further demonstrate the feasibility of this mission concept, this thesis...master thesis 2018
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Pugliatti, Mattia (author)The decision on the dynamical model used to design a spacecraft’s trajectory is a fundamental choice influenced by many factors. The complexity of such a model affects the accuracy of the designed trajectory but also the difficulty of the design process. One approach to simplify this task consists of splitting the trajectory design process into...master thesis 2018
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Brouwer, Jochem (author)The autonomous transit market is on the rise. 2getthere is one of the lead suppliers of automated people moving systems, located in the Netherlands. Their vehicles can be classified as SAE level 4 automation (Highly Automated) vehicles. This thesis is concerned with the dynamic trajectory generation for 2getthere’s Group Rapid Transport (GRT)...master thesis 2018