Space debris is an ever-growing problem, posing increasing risks of collisions between space objects. To accurately predict a collision, the uncertainty of both objects must be propagated to the time of closest approach. This study compares 8 different uncertainty propagation methods for various challenging test cases, to determine the computational efficiency and accuracy of the uncertainty propagations. It is found that the Multi-Fidelity method (MF) is a promising method that scores high on both metrics. MF is then used to propagate the uncertainty of two space objects to the time of closest approach for realistic conjunction scenarios, and compared to a baseline using Monte Carlo samples. It is found that using MF with specific settings, the resulting collision probability remains within a 95% confidence interval, while the computation times are reduced by a factor of up to 10.000.

When searching for life we tend to imagine faraway exoplanets, and rarely do we think of our
own solar system. Although a lot of focus is put on Mars, Venus, our closest neighbor, could
currently host life. Temperatures of 475 ℃ and pressures 95 times what we experience on
Earth don’t offer the best conditions for life on the surface. However at high altitudes the
temperature and pressure drop until, in the area between 50 and 70 km, they approach those
of Earth. Here, amongst a thick deck of sulfuric acid clouds, it is speculated that life could
exist, perhaps in the form of bacteria living in suspended water bubbles.
The purpose of our mission is to design a remote sensing platform to perform in-situ
measurements on the atmosphere and soil composition of Venus, in an effort to learn more
about the planet while looking for specific biomarkers that could be attributed to life.