Kevin Alvarado

Analyzed engine data provided for trends. Cataloged deterioration of engine parts. Presented any findings of the data analyzed. Overall, assisted individuals that require help.

A novel station-keeping strategy leveraging periodic revolutions of homeomorphic orbits in the Elliptic Restricted Three Body Problem is presented. A sequential methodology based on pseudo arc-length continuation is described for the discovery, computation and classification of periodic revolutions morphed from their traditional circular restricted three body counterparts to build an apriori data-set. This data-set comprehensively encompasses all possible initial conditions as the true anomaly varies. A novel and efficient scheme to quantify impulsive orbit maintenance maneuvers, minimizing the total energy cost is presented. The proposed approach is salient in its generic applicability across any elliptic three body system and any periodic orbit family. Finally, average annual station keeping costs using the described methodology is quantified for selected ``orbits of interest'' in the cis-lunar and the Sun-Earth systems. The robustness and efficacy of the approach instills confidence in its applicability for realistic mission design scenarios.

Asteroid mining and retrieval have been explored as viable alternatives to supplying resources from Earth for space missions. Various methods for determining the accessibility of near-Earth asteroids have been presented; however, this method focuses on the quantity and types of resources that are available within a certain energy constraint given a redirection time frame. Lambert’s problem is solved to determine the optimal transfer orbit between the Earth and asteroid for rendezvous. A genetic algorithm is used to determine the minimum energy for transfer with varying flight durations and launch dates. The physical properties and spectral classifications of known asteroids are used to estimate the quantity and chemical composition of accessible resources. This method is applied to asteroids that have assigned taxonomic classifications. An overall distribution of asteroid types and energy requirements is presented for Earth and investigated for a sample asteroid scenario