Research Interests and Specialty Areas

Deimos



Orbit and Trajectory Analysis

Tolson, Robert H, "Maximum Latitude of Lunar Landing Sites," American Rocket Society J., vol. 32, no. 7, July 1962, pp. 1091-1092.

Gapcynski, J. P. and Tolson, R. H, "Trajectory Considerations for the Return to Earth Phase of Lunar Missions," Progress in Astronautics and Aeronautics, Technology of Lunar Exploration, vol. 10, 1963, pp. 687-702.

Tolson, R. H., and Compton, H. R, "Accuracy of Determining the State of a Lunar Satellite and the Lunar Gravitational Field by Using Earth-Based Range and Range-Rate Observations," J. Spacecraft and Rockets, vol. 4, no. 1, January 1967, pp. 26-33.

Tolson, R. H., Blackshear, W. T., and Anderson, S. G, "Orbit and Position Determination for Mars Orbiters and Landers," J. Spacecraft and Rockets, vol. 7, no. 9, September 1970, pp. 1095-1100.

Blackshear, W. T.; Tolson, R. H., and Day, G. M, "Mars Lander Position Estimation in the Presence of Ephemeris Biases," J. Spacecraft and Rockets, vol.10, no. 4, April 1973, pp. 284-285.

Tolson, R. H., Blanchard, R. C., and Daniels, E. F, "Phobos and Deimos Encounter Experiment During the Viking Extended Mission," J. Spacecraft and Rockets, vol. 13, no. 1, January 1976, pp. 19-25.

Tolson, R. H. and Mason, M. L, "Accuracy of Estimating the Masses of Phobos and Deimos from Multiple Viking Orbiter Encounters," J. Astronaut. Soc., vol. 24, no. 3, July-September 1976, pp. 221-241. 

Lunar Missions and Gravity Field

Michael, W. H., Jr., Tolson, R. H., and Gapcynski, J. P, "Lunar Orbiter Tracking Data Indicate Properties of Moon's Gravitational Field." Science, vol. 153, no. 3740, September 2, 1966, pp. 1102-1103.

Tolson, R. H. and Gapcynski, J. P, "An Analysis of the Lunar Gravitational Field as Obtained from Lunar Orbiter Tracking Data," Moon and Planets - II, North Holland Publishing Co., Amsterdam, Holland, pp. 178-186.

Gapcynski, J. P., Blackshear, W. T., Tolson, R. H., and Compton, H. R, "A Determination of the Lunar Moment of Inertia," Geophys. Res. Let., vol. 2, no.8, August 1975.

Mars, Phobos and Deimos   -   Viking to Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Beyond

Michael, W. H., Jr., Mayo, A. P., Blackshear, W. T., Tolson, R. H., Kelly, G.M., Brenkle, J. P., Cain, D. L., Fjeldbo, G., Sweetnam, D. N., Goldstein, R. B., MacNeil, P. E., Reasenberg, R. D., Shapiro, I. I., Boak, T. I. S. III, Grossi, M. D., and Tang, C. H, "Mars Dynamics, Atmosphere and Surface Properties; Determination from Viking Tracking Data," Science, vol. 194, 1976, p.1337.

Michael, W. H., Jr., Tolson, R. H., Mayo, A. P., Blackshear, W. T., Kelly, M.B., Cain, D. L., Brenkle, J. P., Shapiro, I. I., and Reasenberg, R. D, "Viking Lander Location and Spin Axis of Mars, Determination from Radio Tracking Data," Science, vol. 193, August 20, 1976, p. 803.

Daniels, E. F., Tolson, R. H., and Gapcynski, J. P, "Spherical Harmonic Representation of the Martian Gravity Field Using a Short Arc Technique," J. Spacecraft and Rockets, vol. 14, no. 6, June 1977.

Gapcynski, J. P., Tolson, R. H., and Michael, W. H., Jr, "Mars Gravity Field-Combined Viking and Mariner 9 Results," J. Geophysical Res., vol. 82, no. 28, September 30, 1977, pp. 4325-4327.

Mayo, A. P., Blackshear, W. T., Tolson, R. H., Michael, W. H., Jr., Kelly, G.M., Brenkle, J. P., and Kamerek, T, "Lander Locations, Mars Physical Ephemeris and Solar System Parameters, Determinations from Viking Lander Tracking Data," J. Geophysical Res., vol, 82, no. 28, September 30, 1977, pp. 4297-4303.

Michael, W. H., Jr., Tolson, R. H., Brenkle, J. P., Cain, D. L., Fjeldbo, G., Stelzried, C. T., Grossi, M. D., Shapiro, I. I., and Tyler, G. L, "The Viking Radio Science Investigations," J. Geophysical Res., Special Viking Issue, vol.82, no. 28, September 30, 1977, pp. 4293-4295.
Mars Odyssey

Tolson, R. H., Blackshear, W. T., Mason, M. L., and Kelly, G. M, "The Mass of Phobos," Geophysical Res. Let., vol. 4, no. 12, Dec. 1977, pp. 551-554.

Tolson, R. H., Duxbury, T. C., Born, G. H., Christensen, E. J., Diehl, R. E., Farless, D., Hildebrand, C. E., Mitchell, R. T., Molko, P. M., Morabito, L. A., Pallucont, F. D., Reichert, R. J., Taraji, H., Veverka, J., Neugebauer, G., and Findlay, J. T, "Viking First Encounter of Phobos, Preliminary Results." Science, vol. 199, no. 4324, January 6, 1978, pp. 61-64.

Tolson, R., Keating, G., Cancro, G., Parker, J., Noll, S., Wilkerson, B. "Application of Accelerometer Data to Mars Global Surveyor Aerobraking Operations," J. of Spacecraft and Rockets, vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 323-329, May-June, 1999.

Dwyer, A., Tolson, R., Monk, M., Tartabini, P., "Development of a Monte Carlo Mars-GRAM Model for Mars 2001 Aerobraking Simulations," Astrodynamics 2001, Vol. 109, Advances in Astronautics, pp. 1293-1308, 2002. 

Hanna, J. and Tolson, R., "Approaches to Autonomous Aerobraking at Mars," Astrodynamics 2001, Vol. 109, Advances in Astronautics, pp. 1257-1271, 2002. 

Tolson, R., Keating, G., George, B., Escalera, P., Werner, M., Dwyer, A., and Hanna, J., "Application of Accelerometer Data to Mars Odyssey Aerobraking and Atmospheric Modeling," J. of Spacecraft and Rockets, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 435-443, 2005.  

Tolson, R.H., Willcockson, W. Desai, P., Thomas, P., "Anomalistic Disturbance Torques During the Entry Phase of the Mars Exploration Rover Missions – A Telemetry and Mars-Surface Investigation," AAS Guidance and Control Conference, Paper 06-087, Breckenridge, CO, February 4-8, 2006. In review, AAS Journal.

Mars Atmosphere

Keating, G., Bougher, S, Zurek, R, Tolson, R. et al., "The Structure of the Upper Atmosphere of Mars: In Situ Accelerometer Measurements from Mars Global Surveyor," Science, Vol 279, pp 1672-1676, March 13, 1998.

Tolson, R., Keating, G., Noll, S., Baird, S., Shellenberg, T. "Utilization of Mars Global Surveyor Accelerometer Data for Atmospheric Modeling," Astrodynamics 1999, Vol 103, Advances in the Astronautical Sciences, 1999.

Fritts, D.C., Wang, L., Tolson, R.H., "Mean and gravity wave structures and variability in the Mars upper atmosphere inferred from MGS and MO aero-braking densities," J, Geophys. Res. 111, A12304, doi:10.1029/2006JA011897, 2006.

Wang, L., D. C. Fritts, and R. H. Tolson, Nonmigrating tides inferred from the Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor aerobraking data, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L23201, doi:10.1029/2006GL027753.

Tolson, et al., "Application of MGS and ODY Aerobraking Accelerometer Data to Atmospheric Modeling," AIAA Astrodynamics Special Session, AIAA-6397, Keystone CO, June 2006. Accepted by JSR.

Earth Atmosphere

Blackshear, W. T., and Tolson, R. H., "High Correlations Between Variations in Monthly Averages of Solar Activity and Total Atmospheric Ozone," Geophysical Res. Let., vol. 5, no. 11, November 1978, pp. 921-924.

Tolson, R. H., "Spatial and Temporal Variations of Monthly Mean Total Columnar Ozone Derived from 7 Years of BUV Data." J. Geophysical Res., vol. 86, no. C8, August 20, 1981, pp. 7312-7330.

Keating, G.M., Tolson, R.H., Bradford, M.S., "Evidence of Long Term Global Decline in the Earth's Thermospheric Densities Apparently Related to Anthropogenic Effects," Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 27, No. 10, May 15, 2000, pp: 1523-1526.

Venus   -   Pioneer Venus to Magellan

Keating, G. M., Tolson, R. H., and Hinson, E. W., "Venus Thermosphere and Exosphere, First Satellite Drag Measurements of an Extraterrestrial Atmosphere," Science, vol. 203, no. 4382, February 23, 1979, pp. 772-774.

Croom, C. and Tolson, R., "Using Magellan Attitude Control Data to Study the Venusian Atmosphere and Various Spacecraft Properties," Advances in the Astronautical Sciences, Vol. 87, Part 1, 1994, pp 451-467.

Tolson, R.H., Patterson, M.T., and Lyons, D.T., "Magellan Windmill and Termination Experiments," Space Flight Dynamics, Cepadues-Editions, June 1995, pp 265-272.

Spacecraft and Structural Dynamics and Control Odyssey at MarsPort CDR

Tolson, R. H. and J.K. Huang, "Integrated Control of Thermally Distorted Large Space Antennas," J. of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, vol. 15, no. 3, May-June 1992, pp 605-614.

Poston, W. and Tolson, R.H. "Maximizing the Determinant of the Information Matrix with the Effective Independence Method," J. of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, vol. 15, no.6, November-December 1992, pp 1513-1514.

Hanson, M. and Tolson, R., "Reducing Flexible Base Vibrations Through Local Redundancy Resolution," Journal of Robotics Systems Vol. 12, No. 11, Nov. 1995, pp 77-779.

Papadopoulos, M., Tolson, R., and Garcia, E., "A Study of the Observer/Kalman Filter Markov Parameter Identification Method," The International Journal of Analytical and Experimental Modal Analysis, 1995.

Ketchum, E. and Tolson, R., "Onboard Star Identification Without A Priori Attitude Information," J. of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, vol. 18, no. 2, March-April, 1995, pp 242-246.

Papadopoulos, M., Garcia, E. and Tolson, R., "Global-Local Observer Markov Parameter Identification for System Realization," J. of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, Vol. 19, No. 6, Nov.-Dec, 1996.



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