Seminars

Abstract: The Pathfinder for Autonomous Navigation (PAN) is a mission that incorporates surprisingly low-cost, off-the-shelf solutions for autonomous rendezvous and docking. Onboard satellite radios eliminate costly ground infrastructure; sensor requirements are relaxed thanks to a docking system robust to position and attitude errors; attitude control and propulsion fabricated from COTS parts results in comparatively low Delta V for rendezvous, achieved at the expense of extending the mission duration. These cost savings, along with modular and adaptable subsystems, enable a range of high-value CubeSat missions which require precision relative navigation or docking and represent a path toward mass production of highly capable CubeSats. PAN is expected to fly on STP-27VPB (a Virgin Orbit launch) in September 2021.

Bio: Mason Peck is the Stephen J. Fujikawa professor of Astronautics at Cornell University, where his research currently focuses on spacecraft system architectures, attitude dynamics and control, and technology development and innovation practices. His past research includes chip-scale spacecraft, propellantless orbit maneuvers, and spacecraft actuation with control-moment gyroscopes.  He directs the Space Systems Design Studio, the home of Cornell’s space technology flight-experiment projects, including Kicksat-1, the first crowdfunded spacecraft. He also is the Director of the NASA New York Space Grant Consortium, which focuses on NASA-relevant STEM education and workforce development.  From late 2011 to early 2014 he served as NASA’s Chief Technologist, the agency’s lead strategist and advisor on matters of technology development in support of its civil space objectives. From 2001 to 2004 he served as a Principal Fellow at Honeywell, and from 1995 to 2001 worked at Boeing Satellite Systems as an engineer in attitude dynamics and mission operations.