SPECIAL SESSION #19

Marco Pertile

University of Padova - Dept. of Industrial Engineering, Italy

• marco.pertile@unipd.it

Andrea Valmorbida

University of Padova - Dept. of Industrial Engineering, Italy

• andrea.valmorbida@unipd.it

Sebastiano Chiodini

University of Padova - Dept. of Industrial Engineering, Italy

• sebastiano.chiodini@unipd.it

Riccardo Giubilato

German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics

• riccardo.giubilato@dlr.de

This special issue encompasses research contributions in the field of measurements for autonomous systems, including spacecraft, planetary rovers, vehicles and robotic systems. We encourage the submission of manuscripts covering technical topics such as relative or proximity navigation for spacecraft, e.g., rendezvous and docking maneuvers, formation flying, or tethered systems, as well as global and local navigation techniques for planetary exploration rovers. Contributions addressing the development and testing of autonomous spacecraft subsystems, such as devices for space debris mitigation or mechanisms for tether and antenna deployment, are also welcome.

We invite contributions specifically in the area of attitude and position measurement systems, with a focus on vision-based, LiDAR-based, GNSS-based, IMU-based, technologies, and their combinations. These pose measurement systems can be particularly focused on relative navigation between spacecraft and vehicle navigation in unstructured environments. The relevance of relative navigation between spacecraft is steadily increasing, driven by a growing number of applications such as formation flight of small satellites, rendezvous and docking for satellite servicing, end-of-life operations, and space debris mitigation. We also welcome contributions related to vehicle navigation in unstructured environments. The rising interest in rover navigation, e.g. for in-situ operations in planetary exploration, is underscored by the numerous mobile robotic missions planned in the coming years.

We additionally invite submissions addressing the development and testing of spacecraft subsystems. Relevant topics include optical payloads and imaging systems; space mechanisms such as front-door devices or deployment systems for long structures; and space debris mitigation technologies based on long tethers, which exhibit unique dynamic and thermal behaviors. These innovative devices require complex measurement strategies and dedicated testing approaches to support performance evaluation, as well as the design of control laws and stabilization algorithms. Analyses and studies on the potential of orbital control using fully green electrodynamic systems are also welcome.

The main topics are:

• Vision-based and LiDAR-based relative navigation for formation flight or between a chaser and a target spacecraft (collaborative or non-collaborative; active or passive; known or unknown; provided with markers or markerless);
• Applications of event cameras for autonomous space systems, including spacecraft navigation, debris tracking, and proximity operations;
• Relative navigation techniques for rendezvous and docking maneuvers between spacecraft or for formation flight;
• Advances in systems for collision avoidance between space vehicles, including hardware, software and new maneuvers or methods;
• Novel sensor setups and approaches for perception, navigation and interaction between spacecraft;
• Formation flying using GNSS signals;
• Vision-based and LiDAR-based navigation and mapping for planetary robots;
• Global and/or local map building in unstructured environments;
• Novel technologies for mapping, navigation and terrain analysis;
• Advances in the calibration procedures and techniques of mono- or multi-sensor systems for relative and absolute navigation;
• Instrumentation and measurements for the navigation of UAV in planetary environments;
• Sensor fusion techniques for aerospace applications;
• GNSS measurement techniques and GNSS integration for navigation purposes;
• Satellite-based Radionavigation on the Moon and Other Extraterrestrial Bodies;
• Metrological evaluation and characterization of Machine Learning approaches for the navigation of autonomous spacecraft and vehicles in space applications and planetary exploration;
• Development and testing, such as functional or qualification tests, for optical payloads and subsystems;
• Development and testing, such as functional or qualification tests, for space mechanisms and devices, such as front door mechanisms and deployment systems for antennas or solar panels;
• Development and testing of deployment systems for long tape tethers;
• Development and testing of the employment of long non-conductive and conductive tethers in space, including the analysis of their performances, deployment and control laws;
• Development and testing of fully green electrodynamic (propellant-less) systems for orbital control;
• Study of propellant-less technologies and systems for space debris mitigation and remediation.

Marco Pertile associate Professor at the Industrial Engineering Dept. – University of Padova, in the research field 09/E4-ING-IND/12, IMIS-01/A, Mechanical and Thermal Measurements. PhD in Space Science and Technology at the University of Padova. Main research interests: mechanical and thermal measurements; measurements based on vision systems, laser scanners, IMU, GNSS; robotics; autonomous vehicles; uncertainty evaluation; measurements for space. Involved in several international projects, such as: EIC Pathfinder GEICKO – GEcko based Innovative Capture Kit for uncooperative and unprepared resident Orbital assets; EUSPA/GRANT/03/2021 - GEMOP “Support for Galileo/EGNOS Performance Monitoring Activities”, (2023-2027); H2020 GISCAD-OV (Galileo Improved Services for Cadastral Augmentation Development On-field Validation); HYPSOS (Hyperspectral stereo observing system for solar system exploration), funded by ASI; H2020 ETPACK Electrodynamic Tether PACKaged in a reel on-board the spacecraft; SIMBIO-SYS Experiment on board of the ESA mission BEPI Colombo; DREAMS EDM Payload for the EXOMARS2016 mission; OSIRIS of the ESA Rosetta mission. He was a recipient of the following awards: “Paolo Cappa” Award for the best paper in the Italian National Forum on Measurements 2018; Best Paper in Mechanical and Thermal Measurement for Aerospace in the IEEE Int. W. in Metrology for Aerospace 2014; “one of Transactions Outstanding Reviewers of 2014” from the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society; Santini Award for best paper space section from the Italian Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics 2007.

Andrea Valmorbida is currently an Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Thermal Measurements at the Department of Industrial Engineering (DII) of the University of Padova, Italy, where he teaches part of the courses Space Instrumentation and Satellite Navigation within the Aerospace Engineering degree program. He earned a Master’s degree cum laude in Aerospace Engineering in 2009 and subsequently obtained a Ph.D. in Sciences, Technologies and Measurements for Space in 2014, both from the University of Padova. In 2012, he conducted research at MIT’s Space System Laboratory, contributing to the development and experimental validation of Model Predictive Control strategies on the SPHERES testbed for satellite proximity navigation. His research activities focus on the development and experimental testing of relative measurement systems and guidance, navigation, and control algorithms for satellite proximity operations, as well as on measurement systems, dynamics, and control of electrodynamic and inert tethered satellite systems. Andrea has been actively involved in eleven international and national research projects, including the FP7 project BETs, the H2020 projects E.T.Pack and E.T.Pack-F, and the Horizon Europe projects E.T.COMPACT (etpack.eu) and gEICko (geicko.space). Since 2012, he has played a leading role in the development of SPARTANS, a cooperating spacecraft testbed for autonomous proximity operations experiments (research.dii.unipd.it/mts/spartans-facility).

Sebastiano Chiodini is an Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Thermal Measurements at the Department of Industrial Engineering (DII) of the University of Padova, Italy, where he currently teaches "Global Positioning and Navigation" in the Master's degree program in Aerospace Engineering. In 2017, he obtained a Ph.D. degree in Space Sciences, Technologies and Measurements from the Centre of Studies and Activities for Space (CISAS) “G. Colombo,” University of Padova, having completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the same university and the École centrale de Lyon under the T.I.M.E. double degree program in 2013. During the JPL Visiting Student Researchers Program (JVSRP) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA, in 2016, he worked on a collaborative visual localization method for rovers designed to hop and tumble across the surface of comets and asteroids. Sebastiano has contributed to the development and qualification of the COver Mechanism (COM) of the JANUS telescope and has collaborated with ALTEC SpA, Turin, Italy, on the development of localization algorithms for ESA ExoMars rover.
His research interests include the development and testing of sensor fusion techniques based on Global Navigation Satellite Systems for accurate Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT), the development of machine vision-based and LiDAR-based measurement systems for drones and rovers.

Riccardo Giubilato is a Researcher at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, and leads the Intelligent Exploration and Mapping group within the Department of Perception and Cognition. He received a Ph.D. degree in Space Sciences, Technologies and Measurements from the Centre of Studies and Activities for Space (CISAS) “G. Colombo,” University of Padova. Since 2019 he is a full-time researcher in the context of localization and mapping for planetary agents. He conducts active research in the field of SLAM and place recognition under severe environmental conditions. He is a core developer for the software of the DLR/CNES rover Idefix, part of the JAXA Martian Moon eXploration (MMX) mission to Phobos. His research interests include multi-modality for place recognition, semantic scene analysis, multi-robot and multi-session localization and mapping in unstructured planetary settings.