
Massimiliano VasileUniversity of Strathclyde · Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Massimiliano Vasile
PhD
Professor of Space Systems Engineering, University of Strathclyde
About
558
Publications
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5,758
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Introduction
Additional affiliations
October 2001 - November 2003
August 2013 - present
January 2004 - October 2005
Education
October 1997 - October 2001
October 1989 - October 1996
Publications
Publications (558)
This paper presents a novel approach to the robust solution of optimal impulsive control problems under aleatory and epistemic uncertainty. The novel approach uses belief Markov decision processes to reformulate the control problem in terms of uncertainty distributions, called beliefs, rather than the realisations of the system states. This formula...
This paper presents a decision support system that can automatically allocate collision avoidance manoeuvres in the event of a high risk close encounter between two space objects. Decisions are supported by an Intelligent Classification System that combines Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence with Machine Learning to automatically classify conjuncti...
This paper introduces three types of dynamical indicators that capture the effect of uncertainty on the time evolution of dynamical systems. Two indicators are derived from the definition of Finite Time Lyapunov Exponents while a third indicator directly exploits the property of the polynomial expansion of the dynamics with respect to the uncertain...
This paper presents a data processing pipeline designed to extract information from the hyperspectral signature of unknown space objects. The methodology proposed in this paper determines the material composition of space objects from single pixel images. Two techniques are used for material identification and classification: one based on machine l...
This work proposes to model the space environment as a stochastic dynamic network where each node is a group of objects of a given class, or species, and their relationship is represented by stochastic links. A set of stochastic dynamic equations, governing the evolution of the network, are derived from the network structure and topology. It will b...
The brightness of a satellite mainly depends on its geometry, surface reflective properties, position and orientation relative to the observer and the light source. This paper presents a physics-informed neural network (PINN) for estimating a space object's attitude and angular velocity from a time-series of brightness measurements (i.e., a light c...
This paper introduces some novel metrics to quantify the fragility and resilience of the space environment. These metrics are derived from the percolation dynamics of an equivalent complex network modelling the evolution of the space environment. The network model represents groups of objects with nodes and their relationships with links. The idea...
This paper presents an analysis of the collision risk and impact on the space environment of large Solar Power Satellites (SPS). The deployment of large reflectors in LEO has recently been proposed as a possible solution to increase the sustainable production of solar energy on Earth. However, given their size and orbit, they
introduce a new issue...
This work introduces the concept of Generative Astrodynamics: the application of Generative Artificial Intelligence to develop complex space trajectories from a dataset of known solutions. A Deep Learning architecture is employed to map periodic orbits and transfer trajectories in the Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem into a latent space of fe...
Due to the recent increase in the rate of launches to space, there is a renewed interest in modelling the evolution of the space environment. These models aim to predict how objects, including active spacecraft and debris, will be distributed in the environment in future. This work focusses on two components of an overall environment model: the lau...
Presentation delivered in Tsinghua, Nanjing and Hefei, December 2024
A machine learning approach is developed, applied, and tested for the estimation of the attitude of a resident space
object being observed by a chaser spacecraft. The chaser observes the target by means of a spectral camera, which
captures resolved images of the target. The model makes use of short sequences of low resolution spectral images
to det...
This study explores the coupled orbit-attitude dynamics during the in-orbit assembly (and disassembly) of the European reference Solar Power Satellite (SPS) developed under the ESA SOLARIS initiative. The satellite consists of a modular phased array antenna and solar array wings, designed for energy collection and transmission from Geostationary Ea...
The paper presents some foundational work which enables engineering for the sustainable use of outer space. A methodology is proposed that combines life cycle assessment with a recently developed quantification of the global health of the space environment. This will be used to establish which actions are required to minimise the environmental impa...
In situ utilisation (ISRU) of space resources is increasingly becoming a central consideration for long duration space missions. The efficient and sustainable use of these resources must play a prominent role in our discussion of space exploration and development. Regolith represents the largest and most accessible solid resource on the Lunar, Mart...
Assessing the risk associated with new missions in orbit has become increasingly important. With the large number of spacecraft and debris now in orbit, there are many more close encounters between objects, which makes it more difficult to estimate the risk over the lifetime of a mission. Several approaches exist for determining the collision risk...
With the increase in space traffic in Low Earth Orbit associated with the New Space era, it is necessary to reconsider operational procedures to address Collision Avoidance Manoeuvres (CAMs). This new environment brings about an increase in conjunction alerts, necessitating the automation of tasks and protocols to alleviate the burden on operators'...
In recent years, a variational approach to the n-body problem has brought significant progress in the field of celestial mechanics and new possible orbits have been determined. In this case, one studies the critical points of the Lagrangian action associated to the n-body problem. In particular cases and with the use of evolutionary algorithms, one...
Space Traffic Coordination (STC) is vital to enable enduring space safety. STC deliberations are both highly technical and diverse; the suite of capabilities and the number of stakeholders involved complicate understanding of the relevant features of required STC activities. The authors propose that looking at STC within a cognitive framework that...
This work aims to determine the orbital capacity of a region of space in MEO; and to quantify the effects of collisions on this environment. The first objective is achieved by means of an optimization problem to obtain a set of orbital elements which ensure that the minimum intersection distance between any two orbits is greater than 10 km which ac...
Methods and techniques to quantify uncertainty in astrodynamics and space systems
As the number of satellites and space debris continues to grow, this project will support the development of an advanced automated AI-powered platform to monitor, operate, and protect Canadian air space and space assets. The gateway to space domain awareness (SDA) is understanding orbital mechanics and being able to predict and track the motion of...
ESA’s Hera mission aims to visit binary asteroid Didymos in late 2026, investigating its physical characteristics and the result of NASA’s impact by the DART spacecraft in more detail. Two CubeSats onboard Hera plan to perform a ballistic landing on the secondary of the system, called Dimorphos. For these types of landings the translational state d...
This paper presents a new version of Multi Agent Collaborative Search (MACS) with Adaptive Weights (named MACS‐AW). MACS is a multi‐agent memetic scheme for multi‐objective optimization originally developed to mix local and population‐based search. MACS was proven to perform well on a number of test cases but had three limitations: (i) the amount o...
This paper proposes a robust Bayesian framework to automatically allocate collision avoidance manoeuvres under a mix of aleatory and epistemic uncertainty. The Bayesian framework integrates a robust particle filter for state estimation and uncertainty propagation, an intelligent agent for automatic allocation of collision avoidance manoeuvres, and...
The Three-Body Problem has fascinated scientists for centuries and it has been crucial in the design of modern space missions. Recent developments in Generative Artificial Intelligence hold transformative promise for addressing this longstanding problem. This work investigates the use of Variational Autoencoder (VAE) and its internal representation...
ESA's Hera mission aims to visit binary asteroid Didymos in late 2026, investigating its physical characteristics and the result of NASA's impact by the DART spacecraft in more detail. Two CubeSats on-board Hera plan to perform a ballistic landing on the secondary of the system, called Dimorphos. For these types of landings the translational state...
The Three-Body Problem has fascinated scientists for centuries and it has been crucial in the design of modern space missions. Recent developments in Generative Artificial Intelligence hold transformative promise for addressing this longstanding problem. This work investigates the use of Variational Autoencoder (VAE) and its internal representation...
We model the space environment with a stochastic dynamic network and derive a percolation theory from the structural properties of the network. We show how the percolation indicators we propose can be used to quantify the global health of the space environment. We also show how different policies for post mission disposal or collision avoidance can...
This work proposes an approach to robust con-junction risk assessment given a sequence of Conjunction Data Messages (CDM). Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence (DSt) is used to account for epistemic uncertainty in the sequence of CDMs and derive a robust classification of conjunction events. We then use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to bypass the comp...
Drone Logistic Network is an emerging technology in the sector of logistic support with potential applications in goods delivery, postal shipping, healthcare networks, emergency response, etc. This highly complex system often involves different design requirements along with multiple objective functions such as time for delivery, capital and operat...
The paper introduces an averaged analytical model suitable for studying the long-term attitude dynamics of low Earth orbit objects subject to the interaction with the exosphere. This work extends previous results by the authors on the development of a semi-analytical theory for long-term attitude propagation. An averaged analytical solution is comp...
Presentation on the quantification of model uncertainty in astrodynamics
The aerothermodynamic environment surrounding bodies undergoing destructive atmospheric entry is characterized by multiple interacting shock waves generated by the presence of several fragments moving close to one another at high speed. Shock interaction and impingement produce highly localized surface loads, influencing the overall dynamics of the...
Epistemic uncertainty results from lack of knowledge of the motion dynamics, and the exact probability distribution of parameters. Quantifying it can quickly become computationally intractable as the number of uncertain quantities increases. A dynamic programming based approach is proposed to maintain the dimensionality of the uncertainty space con...
We develop an averaged dynamical model suitable to study the long-term attitude motion of Earth-orbiting objects with general geometries, considering the major effects of gravity-gradient, residual magnetic, and light-pressure torques. The equations of attitude motion are expressed in Sadov variables. To develop the semi-analytical theory, the equa...
Launches are a significant source of uncertainty for the evolution of the space environment, which creates a major challenge for predicting the state of the environment in future. Many space environment models that require an estimate of launch traffic will either use no launches as a baseline or repeat historical data. Recent shifts in launch traf...
Extended presentation on the optimisation of trajectories under aleatory and epistemic uncertainty. The presentation includes examples of Belief Optimal Control, elements of space traffic management with the optimisation and planning of collision avoidance manoeuvres, either impulsive or low-thrust, with a combination of imprecise probabilities, ma...
The tracking of space assets within increasingly populated orbits is a critical task in the pursuit of safe space operations; however, with limited observations the gaps in time series data must be filled by numerical attitude simulation models. In practice, given the nonlinear nature of spacecraft dynamics and uncertain space disturbances, such si...
Spectral lightcurves consisting of time series single-pixel spectral measurements of spacecraft are used to infer the spacecraft's attitude and rotation. Two methods are used. One based on numerical optimisation of a regularised least squares cost function, and another based on machine learning with a neural network model. The aim is to work with m...
Mark Burchell, Gareth Collins and Massimiliano Vasile report on an RAS Specialist Discussion Meeting dedicated to investigating the effects of potentially hazardous objects colliding with the Earth
The Fokker-Planck equation is a partial differential equation that describes how the probability density function of an object state varies, when subject to deterministic and random forces. The solution to this equation is crucial in many space applications, such as space debris trajectory tracking and prediction, guidance navigation and control un...
Keynote on applications of lasers to planetary defence and space safety. A summary of the last 15 years of research and developments from the Stardust network and the Aerospace Centre of Excellence.
Keynote on the treatment of uncertainty in trajectory optimisation. From the treatment of aleatory and epistemic uncertainty to the uncertainty maps and the stochastic dynamical indicators.
This paper proposes two novel mechanisms to improve the performance of many-objective evolutionary algorithms based on Chebyshev scalarization. One mechanism improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the adaptation of the descent directions in criteria space, while the other ensures that extreme solutions are preserved. Weight adaptation via WS-...
The recent growth of the space sector, spurred by a surge in private actors, has led to a sharp increase in our ability to address societal challenges through space data. However, this has exacerbated an already critical situation in space: the proliferation of space debris and a critical expansion of space traffic which is leading to high levels o...
As the global demand for sustainable energy continues to rise, novel solutions are needed to address environmental concerns and ensure a clean and secure energy future. In response to these challenges, national governments, space agencies and other stakeholders are beginning to conduct fresh studies into the general feasibility of different Space-B...
Regolith represents the largest and most accessible solid resource on the lunar and Mars surface. The sustainable use of this resource is enabling new technological advances that will shape space exploration for years to come. This special session brings together an interdisciplinary panel in a campfire format to discuss the novel usage of regolith...
Detection of space objects is a key component of space situational awareness, which could help prevent and minimise space collisions. While there have been lots of radar systems designed to detect space objects, few of them have dealt with long baseline distributed bistatic pairs. The authors focus on the feasibility of long baseline bistatic radar...
The application of Life Cycle Engineering (LCE) within the concurrent engineering process presents a viable method for assessing environmental, social and economic impacts of space missions. Despite this, the novelty of the concept within space mission design has meant that the approach has not yet been widely implemented. This paper successfully d...
Managing the disposal of large-scale modular structures in space, like Solar Power Satellites (SPS), poses a complex challenge. The modularity of these systems facilitates the replacement of malfunctioning components via space robotics, offering the potential for extended operational lifespans. In this context, it is crucial to understand how such...
The rapidly changing space environment motivates new approaches to assess risk in orbit. For new missions, it is important to measure the additional risk they create in the environment and the risk to the mission itself to find ways of minimising this risk. Several methods exist to calculate the risk associated with individual conjunction events. H...
In the context of sustainable management of space, the aim of this work is to define the region of space within which a spacecraft can be found, and to place multiple spacecraft as close as possible to each other while ensuring that the probability of an in-orbit collision remains zero within a certain period of time. This gives a measure of the oc...
The Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) collaboration, consisting of NASA's DART mission and ESA's Hera mission, aims to test the capability of a kinetic impactor to deflect an asteroid. The final nominal phase of Hera is the experimental phase, where the distance of the spacecraft with respect to Dimorphos will be in the order of hund...
Smart Cloud is an asteroid deflection strategy proposed to fractionate a monolithic Kinetic Impactor into a swarm composed of small satellites that hit the NEO nearly at the same time. This technique reduces the risk of failure and of unwanted outcomes of the deflection action in the case of loosely cohesive bodies, which indicates an improvement o...
Traditional radar sensors used for surveillance rely on monostatic radar principles. However, recently the use of remote radio frequency telescopes as bistatic receivers represents an interesting way to reuse existing facilities while providing additional information to improve tracking accuracy. In this paper we study the benefits of using such a...
The recent growth of the space sector, spurred by a surge in private actors, has led to a sharp increase in our ability to address societal challenges through space data. However, this has exacerbated an already critical situation in space: the proliferation of space debris and a critical expansion of space traffic which is leading to high levels o...
This paper presents a new Multi Agent Collaborative Search Algorithm with Adaptive Weights (named MACSAW). MACS is a memetic scheme for multi-objective optimization which contains two kind of actions, the local actions and social actions. The former explore the neighborhood of some virtual agents and the latter push the individual towards the Paret...
A semi-analytical model is developed to study the long-term attitude motion of space objects, with different geometries and in different orbital regimes, under the effect of gravity, magnetic, light pressure, and aerodynamic torque. The problem is formulated in Sadov variables and a semi-analytical model is derived by averaging the equations of att...
This paper proposes a method to find the location of optimal orbits for a recycling station. The goal is to find the orbital elements of an orbit that can be reached from the regions of interest, for example where components of non-active spacecrafts are located. The idea is to look at areas in the orbital parameter space that are reached by propag...
To investigate the resilience and sustainability of the global space environment, a Multi-layer Temporal Network Model (MTN) is proposed in this paper. The idea of the network model is to study the relationships among groups of objects in space by studying the topology and dynamics of an equivalent network where each node is a group of objects and...
This paper presents a data processing pipeline designed to extract information from the hyperspectral signature of unknown space objects. The methodology proposed in this paper determines the material composition of space objects from single pixel images. Two techniques are used for material identification and classification: one based on machine l...
MACS (Multi Agent Collaborative Search) is a creative multi-objective optimization algorithm which is effective for handling standard benchmarks and real engineering problems. It has a long improving history and the latest version is Improved archiving and search strategies for Multi Agent Collaborative Search (MACS2.1). But its ability on solving...
Drone Logistic Network (or simply, DLN) is an emerging topic in the sector of transportation networks with applications in goods delivery, postal shipping, healthcare networks etc. It is a rather complex system which have different types of drones and ground facilities and it also requires a robust design of the network to ensure optimal time for d...
Centimetre and sub-centimetre debris fragments present a significant threat to many operational satellites in Earth orbit. When debris can be tracked, the preferred approach is collision avoidance to slightly alter the orbit of the at-risk satellite, resulting in an along-track displacement which compounds over several orbits. Although numerous str...
Traditional radar sensors used for surveillance rely on monostatic radar principles. However, recently the use of remote radio frequency telescopes as bistatic receivers represents an interesting way to reuse existing facilities while providing additional information to improve tracking accuracy. In this paper we study the benefits of using such a...