Markus Wilde

• Dr.-Ing.
• Senior Engineer at Blue Origin

As electric aircraft emerge as a sustainable solution in aviation, the understanding of both performance and battery state of health is critical to aeronautical decision making and safety. Battery performance is crucial for an electrically propelled flight. The energy required to propel an electric aircraft is predicated upon the performance of the...

The rapid proliferation of non-cooperative spacecraft and space debris in orbit has precipitated a surging demand for on-orbit servicing and space debris removal at a scale that only autonomous missions can address, but the prerequisite autonomous navigation and flightpath planning to safely capture an unknown, non-cooperative, tumbling space objec...

Space debris is on the rise due to the increasing demand for spacecraft for com-munication, navigation, and other applications. The Space Surveillance Network (SSN) tracks over 27,000 large pieces of debris and estimates the number of small, un-trackable fragments at over 1,00,000. To control the growth of debris, the for-mation of further debris m...

The effective use of computer vision and machine learning for on-orbit applications has been hampered by limited computing capabilities, and therefore limited performance. While embedded systems utilizing ARM processors have been shown to meet acceptable but low performance standards, the recent availability of larger space-grade field programmable...

Autonomous navigation and path-planning around non-cooperative space objects is an enabling technology for on-orbit servicing and space debris removal systems. The navigation task includes the determination of target object motion, the identification of target object features suitable for grasping, and the identification of collision hazards and ot...

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2022-3413.vid The rise of electric aircraft propulsion methods, the increased use of automated and integrated flight control systems, and the envisioned use of personal Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) vehicles in urban environments lead to novel technical and regulatory challenges for aircraft...

This paper discusses the design considerations for an Earth–Mars cycler spacecraft using the ballistic S1L1 cycler trajectory. The primary objective is to estimate the mass of a cycler spacecraft designed to transfer a crew of six from Earth to Mars on a nominal 154-day trajectory, with sufficient consumables and life-support capabilities to accomm...

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-3169.vid A number of well-established aircraft manufacturers, such as Airbus, Boeing and Bell, along with new startups have begun developing flying prototypes of electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) vehicles. However, before any of these vehicles see commercial flight they must be cer...

With the increasing risk of collisions with space debris and the growing interest in on-orbit servicing, the ability to autonomously capture non-cooperative, tumbling target objects remains an unresolved challenge. To accomplish this task, characterizing and classifying satellite components is critical to the success of the mission. This paper focu...

With the increasing risk of collisions with space debris and the growing interest in on-orbit servicing, the ability to autonomously capture non-cooperative, tumbling target objects remains an unresolved challenge. To accomplish this task, characterizing and classifying satellite components is critical to the success of the mission. This paper focu...

Hardware-in-the-loop simulation and test has been an essential part in the development of spacecraft formation flight, rendezvous, capture/docking, and spacecraft robotics systems since the Gemini project. The need to recreate the kinematics and/or dynamics of spacecraft motion on the ground has led to numerous simulators and testbeds at academic i...

This paper presents a parametric design model and a design study for a crew transfer vehicle designed to transfer humans between Earth or Mars and a spacecraft on a cyclic Earth–Mars trajectory. The model is based on empirical data for astronauts, consumables, and spacecraft components. The model estimates the dry mass and total mass of the crew tr...

Hardware-in-the-loop simulation and test has been an essential part in the development of spacecraft formation flight, rendezvous, capture/docking, and spacecraft robotics systems since the Gemini project. The need to recreate the kinematics and/or dynamics of spacecraft motion on the ground has led to numerous simulators and testbeds at academic i...

The paper provides a step-by-step tutorial on the Generalized Jacobian Matrix (GJM) approach for modeling and simulation of spacecraft-manipulator systems. The General Jacobian Matrix approach describes the motion of the end-effector of an underactuated manipulator system solely by the manipulator joint rotations, with the attitude and position of...

The performance of an inverse dynamics guidance and control strategy is experimentally evaluated for the planar maneuver of a "chaser" spacecraft docking with a rotating "target." The experiments were conducted on an airbearing proximity maneuver testbed. The chaser spacecraft simulator consists of a three-degree-of-freedom autonomous vehicle float...

During teleoperation of spacecraft, high volumes of critical data are generated and must be presented to the human operator. The use of audio signals in addition to graphical displays has potential of increasing the amount of information perceivable and manageable by the operator. This paper reports the findings of an experimental study investigati...

This study investigates the impact of communication link constraints in the transmission of streaming video feedback on spacecraft teleoperation system performance. A final approach and docking scenario with an uncooperative, rotating target was set up, in which operators in three experiment series were presented with different video frame rate lev...

This paper details the development and experimental evaluation of a head-up display for teleoperation of spacecraft proximity operations, both in a software-based simulation environment and in a hardware proximity operations simulator. The results show that attitude head-up displays are generally beneficial to operator performance in rendezvous and...

Rendezvous and docking with uncooperative target objects are driving capabilities for future robotic on-orbit servicing and space debris removal systems. A teleoperation system augments a robotic system with the perception, cognition, and decision capabilities of a human operator, which can lead to a more capable and more flexible telerobotic syste...

Upcoming space missions in the fields of on-orbit servicing and space debris removal will face highly complex tasks which require significant increases in complexity and capability of spacecraft systems, as well as increased dexterity of manipulators. In order to provide methods and technologies allowing real-time teleoperation in orbit, the Instit...

Teleoperation of spacecraft proximity operations and docking requires delicate timing and coordination of spacecraft maneuvers. Experience has shown that human operators show large performance fluctuations in these areas, which are a major factor to be addressed in operator training. In order to allow the quantification of the impact of these human...

Telepresence systems are often used for terrestrial applications but they are not yet practically applied in space. The deployment of robots with visual as well as haptic feedback for servicing operations in space is a valuable addition to the existing autonomous systems since it will provide flexibility and robustness in mission operations. This i...

Orbital robotics focuses on a variety of applications, as e.g. inspection and repair activities, spacecraft construction or orbit correc-tions. On-Orbit Servicing (OOS) activities have to be closely monitored by operators on ground. A direct contact to the spacecraft in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is limiting the operational time of the robotic applicati...

Rendezvous & Docking will be an essential part for many future spaceflight activities, like manned or unmanned exploration of the Moon or Near Earth Objects (NEOs), a Mars Sample Return mission, as well as On-Orbit Servicing or Space Debris Removal activities. While autonomy is expected to play a major role in future Rendezvous & Docking, human ope...

The major part of the recent research efforts in the field of robotic on-orbit servicing (OOS) has been spent on pursuing autonomous systems, such as Orbital Express or ETS-VII. TU Munich's Institute of Astronautics (LRT) considers the degree of flexibility required of an OOS system to be only achievable by keeping human operators in the loop, by m...

On-Orbit Servicing (OOS), meaning inspection, upgrade, repair, replenishment or maneuvering of a spacecraft on orbit, promises to be a capability with the potential to change the way space business is conducted, for manufacturers, operators, and insurers. The Institute of Astronautics (LRT) of Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) is investigating...

A major challenge in telepresent on-orbit servicing is providing the human operator with all the information required to gain the situational awareness required to safely and effectively perform complex servicing tasks in the remote orbital environment. One support tool is a dedicated robotic camera arm. This will be teleoperated independent of bot...