Category: Software
-
Rankine Cycle MATLAB Software
Rankine cycles are used to produce power from coal and nuclear fission power plants. They also serve as the bottoming cycle for combined cycle power plants. In the future, the Rankine cycle may be used to produce power from nuclear fusion power plants. Princeton Satellite Systems has added Rankine cycle functions to release 2023.1 of…
-
Aerospace Engineering Winter Internship
I worked on two projects during my winter internship at Princeton Satellite Systems: a two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) launch vehicle design proposal related to the NASA Space Launch System (SLS) and a satellite conjunction maneuver demo. These both used the Spacecraft Control Toolbox for MATLAB. One of the main ideas behind the TSTO launch vehicle project is…
-
Practical MATLAB Deep Learning, Second Edition
Our latest textbook on MATLAB programming is now available from Apress. Practical MATLAB Deep Learning, A Projects-Based Approach, is in its second edition. It is available in both electronic and hard copy from SpringerLink. New coauthor Eric Ham, a deep learning research specialist, joins Michael Paluszek and Stephanie Thomas. Mr. Ham led the development of…
-
Collisional Radiative Model paper Published in Review of Scientific Instruments
Our new collisional radiative model paper is titled “Evaluation of a collisional radiative model for electron temperature determination in hydrogen plasma” DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0101676. It is part of the “Proceedings of the 24th Topical Conference on High-Temperature Plasma Diagnostics.” This paper talks about a collisional-radiative (CR) model that extracts the electron temperature, Te, of hydrogen plasmas from…
-
Doing the Mars run with fusion propulsion at 1 G
We received a comment on LinkedIn about how fast the “Mars run” could be achieved with a sustained 1 G acceleration. The reader suggested this could be done in 40 hours. What engine parameters would be required to make that happen? Using a simple constant-acceleration, straight-line analysis, you can indeed compute that the trip should…
-
Hohmann Transfer Simulation with the Spacecraft Control Toolbox
Hohmann transfers are a well-known maneuver used to change the semi-major axis of an orbit. The Spacecraft Control Toolbox allows you to compute the required velocity changes, and integrate them into a full simulation. In this demonstration, we create a 6U CubeSat that has 3 orthogonal reaction wheels and a single hydrazine thruster. The thruster…
-
A Third Planet Discovered Orbiting Proxima Centauri
Introduction A third planet, as large as 26% of the mass of Earth, has been discovered orbiting our nearest stellar neighbor, Proxima Centauri .Astronomer João Faria and his collaborators detected Proxima Centauri d using the Echelle Spectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic Observations. It would be exciting to send a spacecraft to enter the…
-
Moonfall – The Movie
Moonfall is a movie coming out in 2022. It creates a scenario where the Moon’s orbit is changed and set on a collision course with the Earth. It is fun to work out the orbital mechanics. Let us assume that the Moon is in a circular orbit around the Earth. It is actually more influenced…
-
PSS Toolboxes 2021.1 Now Available!
Version 2021.1 of Princeton Satellite Systems toolboxes for MATLAB is now available! Over 50 new functions and scripts are included. Many other existing functions have been improved. One new function is AtmNRLMSISE.m, an atmosphere function based on the NRL MSISE model. It is uses extensive flight data and includes sun effects. It computes the overall…
-
The Optical Navigation Module for the Spacecraft Control Toolbox is Now Available
Space optical navigation employs a camera for attitude determination and a second high dynamic range camera on a pan/track mount for terrain and celestial body tracking. Navigation and attitude determination are performed in a Bayesian framework using anUnscented Kalman Filter with an IMU as the navigation and attitude base. The Optical Navigation Module provides MATLAB…