An Overview of Asteroid Exploration and Autonomous Technology Development

In this talk, I will give an overview of the research being done in my lab, ORCCA, at the University of Colorado. ORCCA conducts research spanning astrodynamics, planetary science (especially focused on small bodies), autonomous spacecraft, guidance, navigation and control, and space robotics. First I will give a brief overview of asteroid exploration. Then I will show some specific results from various projects we have worked on including: gravity estimations results from OSIRIS-REx; investigation of changes to the binary asteroid system Didymos after being impacted by DART; development of a soft robotic spacecraft we call Area-of-Effect Softbots that are designed for asteroid surface operation; and if time remains, some discussion of our recent developments in autonomous GNC. The goal of this talk is more of a broad overview of our activities in hopes of sparking interesting discussions and possible collaborations in the future!