Department of Aerospace Engineering assistant professor Simone Servadio has received a NASA EPSCoR 2024 Rapid Response Research national grant for his project proposal, “Parameters Estimation for Informed Orbit Capacity Models, STMD,” with the support of Iowa NASA EPSCoR.
The Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR, establishes partnerships with the government and higher education institutions and is a nationally competitive opportunity for researchers located in Iowa.
The Rapid Response Research (R3) awards through NASA EPSCoR create an impactful relationship between Iowa researchers and NASA. With NASA EPSCoR funding, the goal is for Iowa researchers to work one year directly with NASA professionals to efficiently address and solve current issues the industry faces.
Finding a solution to the hazards of orbital debris
Servadio’s research proposal addresses safety problems related to orbital debris – fragments from objects like spacecraft and retired satellites – in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) environment. It promotes using a tool to analyze the long-term evolution of the space object population with the goal of estimating the LEO orbital capacity. The research effort is vital to improving space domain awareness through space environment analysis.
It involves a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Orbital Capacity Assessment Tool (MOCAT), which helps estimate and track different objects that could potentially contribute to more debris pollution in the space atmosphere. It has two components which provide an overall analysis of individual space objects’ evolution over time and enables quick runs on computers to make the process more efficient.
Servadio says, “The model quickly predicts the future LEO population as its initial conditions and settings are changed. This feature allows the user to try different solutions and analyze how multiple actions in the present have repercussions in the far future.” Unlike some other orbital modeling tools, the MOCAT allows users to model various scenarios like collision probabilities and gives unique insight on individual objects.
Utilizing Iowa State resources
As the director of the SPACE Lab (Spacecraft Procedures for Autonomous Control and Estimation Laboratory) in Iowa State University’s Department of Aerospace Engineering, Servadio has been using the resources there as a key asset in his project. “The goal is to provide the audience with a better set of parameters such that they can use the model to forecast the future space environment in LEO by propagating a simple dynamic,” Servadio said.
In addition to his work with the SPACE Lab, Servadio is working with Richard Linares, Rockwell International Career Development Professor and associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has assisted Servadio on this project by providing important data for his research estimations. By working together, they have discovered the need to have accurate orbit capacity models, since space is becoming more polluted from private and public agencies accessing its environment.
Looking to the future
In the future, Servadio says he’d like to see his research assist the space community even more. His work will continue to help contribute to finding sustainable alternatives to addressing space debris problems for years to come. He will focus on space domain awareness by performing validation and verification models using real data from sources that promote space flight safety and protection of the space environment. “The idea is to provide free open-source code to everyone that wants to understand orbit capacity and how modifying current launches will impact the space population in the future.”
The R3 awards are $100,000 for a one-year performance period.