About the seminar

Where are we today and what are the prospects for proximity operations for space systems? Applications of proximity operations and associated missions have gone a long way, starting with expensive operations of Gemini in the mid-sixties, extending to the demonstration of autonomous serving capabilities today and reaching out to unprecedented functionalities, such as in-orbit assembly in the future.

Such progress goes along with rapid development of technology on sensor and actuator level, areas such as distributed computing, but also enhanced operations and innovative space architectures. The presentation will not only address the progress on applications and technology, such as provided by the Prisma Formation Flying Mission, but also cover regulatory and international aspects, which will play an ever-increasing role for crucial future space applications such as active space debris removal.

Bio

Eberhard Gill, born in 1961 in Germany, received a diploma in physics and holds a PhD in theoretical astrophysics from the Eberhard-Karls-University Tuebingen, Germany. He holds a Master of Space Systems Engineering of the Delft University of Technology. He has been working as a researcher at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) from 1989 to 2006 in the field of precise satellite orbit determination, autonomous navigation and spacecraft formation flying. He has developed a GPS-based onboard navigation system for the BIRD microsatellite. Gill has been co-Investigator on several international missions, including Mars94-96, Mars-Express, Rosetta, Equator-S and Champ and acted as principal investigator on the PRISMA formation flying satellite mission. 

For more information, contact Martha Salcedo at msalcedo@caltech.edu.