Dissertations, Theses and Student Papers

Atmospheric Flight
Venus       Earth       Mars 		Space Flight Mechanics
Orbits and Trajectories   S/C Dynamics and Control 		Other Research Topics

Venus

" Determining Atmospheric Density and Spacecraft Aerodynamic Properties from Spacecraft Attitude Data," Marsden, Patrick & Croom, Christopher, AIAA Student Conference, 1993.

" Determining the Atmospheric Density of Venus and Magellan Aerodynamic Properties from Spacecraft Attitude Data," Patrick Marsden, MS Summer 1993.

"Venusian Atmospheric and Magellan Spacecraft Properties from Attitude Control Data," Christopher Croom, MS 1994.

"Momentum Accommodation Coefficient and Venus Atmospheric Density Variation from Magellan Attitude Control Data," Raymond Espiritu, MS 1995.

"Magellan Aerodynamic Characteristics During the Termination Experiment Including Thruster Plume-Free Stream Interaction," Francisco Cestero, MS 1997.

"Exploring the Utilization of Magellan Drag and Reaction Wheel Data to Determine Latitudinal Variations in the Venus Upper Atmosphere," Thomas Schellenberg, MS 1999.

Earth

"An Adaptive Thermospheric Model to Improve the Precision of Satellite Orbits," Jonathan Hicks, MS 1997.

"Conceptual Design of a Satellite for GPS Attitude Based Measurements of Thermospheric Winds," Christopher Schierer, MS 1997.

"Methods to Improve the Maintenance of the Earth Catalog of Satellites During Severe Solar Storms," Paul Wilkin, MS 1997.

"MSX in Situ Atmospheric Measurements Near the Exobase," James Leary, MS 1997.

"Preliminary Design of the Lightweight, Infrared Fouriier Transfrom Spectrometer Sensorcraft (LIFTSS)," Hanson Lee, MS 1998.

"Shuttle Orbiter Infrared Image Calibration using Thermocouple Data," Timothy Bozung, MS 2001.

"Modeling the Launch Abort Vehicle's Subsonic Aerodynamics from Free Flight Testing," Christopher Hartman, MS 2008.

"Methods for the Determination of Aerodynamic Parameters and Trajectory Reconstruction of the Orion Command Module from Scale Model Aeroballistic Flight Data," Thomas Sebastion, MS 2008.

Mars
Mars Global Surveyor

"Aerothermodynamics of the Mars Global Surveyor Spacecraft," Russell Shane, MS 1997.

"Operational Data Reduction Procedure for Determining Density and Vertical Structure of the Martian Upper Atmosphere from Mars Global Surveyor Accelerometer Measurements," George Cancro, MS 1998.

"Development of a Bank Reversal Control Law for a Martian Aerocapture Guidance Algorithm," Justin Strickland, MS 2000.

"Improvements in MGS Accelerometer Operations," Jeffrey Parker, MS 2000.

"Approaches to Autonomous Aerobraking at Mars," Jill Hanna, MS 2001.

"Modeling the Mars Atmosphere for Monte Carlo Simulations of the Mars 2001 Odyssey Aerobraking Mission," Alicia Dwyer, MS 2001.

"Conceptual Design of a Mars Atmospheric Explorer," Paul Escalera, MS 2002.

"Development of a Plume Model and Application to Mars 2001 Odyssey Aerobraking," Zachery Chavis, MS 2002.

"Methodology for Reducing Monte Carlo Simularions with Application to Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent, and Landing," Alex Martin, MS 2003.

"Methodology for Applying a Probabilistic Thermal Analysis Approach to Mars Odyssey Aerobraking," Steven Hough, 2007.

"Falure Bounding and Sensitivity Analysis Applied to Monte Carlo Entry, Descent and Landing Simulations," John Gaebler, MS 2009.

"Aerodynamic Validation using MER and Phoenix Entry Flight Data," Casey Thomas, MS 2011


Space Flight Mechanics

Deimos

Orbit and Trajectory Analysis

"An Analysis of Trajectory Options for Manned Mars Missions Utilizing Electric Propulsion," Donald Blersch, MS 1988.

"Mars Rover Sample Return Mission: An Application of Orbiter to Lander Tracking to Improve Landing Accuracy," Perry Kent, MS 1989.

"Optimizing Interplanetary Trajectories with Deep Space Maneuvers," John Navagh, MS 1993.

"Determination of Feasible Return-to-Launchsite Aborts for a HL-20 Personnel Launch System Vehicle Using Optimal Control Theory," Kevin Dutton, MS 1993.

"Conceptual Design of a Crew Escape Module for a Single Stage to Orbit Vehicle," Jason Bacon, MS 1994.

"Evaluation of GPS Position and Attitude Determination for Automated Rendezvous and Docking Missions," Marc DiPrinzio, MS 1994.

"Abort Performance for a Winged-Body Single-Stage to Orbit Vehicle," Jeffery Lyons, MS 1995.

"A Trade Study of the Effects of Augmentation on Two Single-Stage-To-Orbit Vehicle Concepts," Mark Johnson, MS 1995.

"Preliminary Sizing of the Mars Sample Return Earth Entry Vehicle Primary Impact Structure," M. Hendrickson, MS 1999.

"Optimal Orbit Transfers," Jeffery Parker, Directed Study 2001.

"Orbit Determination Accuracy for Comets on Earth-Impacting Trajectories," Linda Kay-Bunnell, MS 2003.

"An Investigation into the Advantages of In-Space Propellant Re-Supply," Michael Scher, MS 2006.

"A Coupled Interplanetary - Entry, Descent and Landing Targeting Procedure," Jeremy Shidner, MS 2006.

"Orbiting the Moons of Mars Including Higher Order Gravity Fields," Shaun Brown, 2006.

"Lidar-Aided Inertial Navigation with Extended Kalman Filtering for Pinpoint Landing," Matthew Aitken, MS 2009.

"Lidar-Aided Inertial Navigation Over Rough Terrain," David Busnardo, MS 2011.

Spacecraft Dynamics and Control

"Optimal Sensor Locations for On-Orbit Modal Identification of Large Space Structures," Wendy Poston, MS 1991.

"Equivalence of Some System Identification Methods That Use Finite Hankel Matrices," Su-Zu Juang, MS 1992.

"Determining the Effect of Modal Truncation and Modal Errors in Component Mode Synthesis Methods," Timothy Widrick, MS 1992.

"Admittance Model for the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System in Four Configurations," Loukas Papadopoulos, MS Summer 1993.

"System Identification for Space Station Freedom Using Observer/Kalman Filter Markov Parameters," Michael Papadopoulos, MS 1993.

"The Effect of Boundary Conditions on Mode Set Selection for Flexible Components in Multi Body Dynamics," Christopher Sontag, MS 1993.

"A Model of the Space Station Freedom Reaction Control System Using MatrixX/SystemBuild Software," Chau Tran, MS 1993.

"A Feasibility Study of a Microgravity Enhancement System for Space Station Freedom," Preston Diamond, MS 1993.

"Efficient Eigenvalue Assignment by State and Output Feedback with Applications for Large Space Structures," Eric Vannell, MS 1994.

"Evaluation of Various Multi-Input Multi-Output Recursive Algorithms for On-Line System Identification," Jose Maldonado-Salgado, MS 1994.

"Simulating the Dynamic Interaction of a Robotic Arm and the Space Shuttle Remote Manipulator System," Steven Garrahan, MS 1995.

"Reducing Flexible Base Vibrations Using Kinematically Redundant Robots," Mark Hanson, DSc. 1995.

"GPS Attitude Determination Using Deployable-Mounted Antennas," Michael Osborne, MS 1995.

"A Matched Filter Theory Based Technique for Vibration Excitation Design," Ronald Weber, MS 1995.

"An Open Loop Guidance Architecture for Navigationally Robust On-Orbit Docking," Hung Chern, MS 1995.
Shuttle-Mir PASDE

"Image Plane Modal Identification in Photogrammetric Dynamic Analysis," Gerald Holmes, MS 1995.

"Development of a Rotor/Body Coupled Analysis for an Active-Mount, Aeroelastic Rotor Testbed," Matt Wilbur, MS 1996.

"Method for Landing Gear Modeling and Simulation with Experimental Validation," James Daniels, MS 1996.

"Image Flow: Global Grid Tracking in the Image Plane Using the Photogrammetric Appendage Structural Dynamics Experiment," Susan Linch, MS 1997.

"Development of a Simulation Capability for the Active Rack Isolation System," Terry Johnson, MS 1997.

"Input Shaping to Reduce Solar Array Structural Vibrations," Michael Doherty, MS 1998.

"Development of a LQR Controller to Provide a Guidance Gain Schedule for Mars Lander 2001.," Brande Tuck, 1998.

"Development of a Generic Guidance Simulation Utilizing Second Order Neighboring Optimal Control," P. Hinchy, MS 1998

"Autonomous Navigation Recovery for Fine Pointing Low Earth Orbiting Spacecraft," Eleanor Ketchum Silverman, DSc. 1998.

"Development of a Differential Game Theory Based Tool for Application in Control Optimization," Scott Anderson, MS 2000

"Recursive Attitude and Rate Estimator Using GPS Doppler Data," Robert Louis Stephens, MS 2000.

"Pathfinder Photogrammetry Research for Ultra_Lightweight and Inflatable Space Structures," Louis Giersch, MS 2001.

"Effect on an Outpost of Lunar Vehicle Impact and Debris," Kristina Zaleski, 2007.

Other Research Topics

"Open-Section Stiffened Composite Panel Coefficients for Finite Element Analysis," Mark Pickenheim, MS 1994.

"Experimental Low Speed Impact Damage Threshold of a Metallic Thermal Protection System," Katherine Karr, MS 1996.

"Piezoelectric Power Consumption for Active Vibration Control," Matthew Brennan, MS 1997.

"Computational Study of Hypervelocity Impacts on Metallic Thermal Protection Systems," Carl Poteet, MS 1998.

"Improvements in Stress Recovery and Error Estimation for Adaptive Mesh Refinement in Aerospace Structures," Michael Dambach, MS 1998.

"Variations of the Simulated Annealing Algorithm," Kandyce Smith, MS 2000

"Supporting Oasis Life (SOL)," Dwyer, A., Escalera, P., Hanna, J., Hernandez, C., NASA MarsPort Engineering Design Student Competition, 2001.

"Model Development and Performance Analysis of the Flying Flexible Fixture," Yelena Savranskaya, MS 2002.

"Structural Evaluation of Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication of Stiffened Panels," Angela Brickler, 2006.


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Updated 10/1/2011 by RHT
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