Miguel A Nunes

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa | UH Manoa · Hawai‘i Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL)

The Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa developed the Comprehensive Open-architecture Solution for Mission Operations Systems (COSMOS) under a three-year NASA grant. This innovative suite of software and hardware was initially designed for supporting the operations of multiple small satellites, but during its...

Small and very capable satellites are becoming an attractive option for future space missions by reducing the cost, decreasing the risk and improving flexibility. Small satellites can also be used as building blocks of large space structures such as solar panels or space telescopes. This work is focused on the development of a position and attitude...

Future space missions will increasingly use larger numbers of satellites to achieve specific mission goals. The cooperative motion for teams of autonomous small spacecraft systems will also become increasingly important for the future space missions such as docking, formation flying and proximity operations. This paper describes the framework we ar...

The Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL) of the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) is developing a new set of capabilities to develop, test, launch and control small satellites from Hawaii. HSFL has become a space organization capable of building and delivering a comprehensive set of space products and services with a special focus on small satel...

The idea of using multiple small satellites is becoming very attractive for future space missions. As a consequence the cooperative motion for teams of autonomous small space-craft systems is also becoming increasingly important for maneuvers such formation ying, docking and proximity operations for small satellites. This paper describes the work w...

Radio images of red-shifted 21-cm signals from neutral hydrogen originating from the very early Universe, the so-called Dark Ages before the first stars formed, are impossible to obtain from Earth due to man-made radio frequency interference (RFI) and the opacity of the ionosphere below ~30 MHz. To efficiently block the RFI, which would otherwise o...

The Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa is developing the capabilities to design, build, and operate constellations of small satellites than can be tailored to efficiently execute a variety of remote sensing missions. With the Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) Office, HSFL is developing the Super Strypi lau...

Layout Optimization is a vital and vibrant research area in engineering. This work concerns the development of a biologically inspired methodology to advance concurrent layout optimization and subsystem placement for multidisciplinary design optimization. The methodology is based on a cellular division model for developing the design layout over a...

Constellations of small and cost-effective satellites are currently a major interest for future space missions that have never been considered before because of previous prohibitive costs or limited engineering solutions. These limitations are being quickly removed by major advances in technology. By optimizing the satellite constellations a strong...

Ongoing and planned smallsat programs within NASA, the DoD, and academia have indicated a need to be able to routinely and efficiently operate multiple small spacecraft in support of science and technology missions. However, as the number of these missions is expected to grow rapidly, the associated costs to develop and operate unique ground contro...

The Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa under a NASA grant is developing a comprehensive open-architecture space mission operations system (COSMOS) designed particularly to provide operations support for multiple small spacecraft. HSFL was recently on a Canadian-led team to perform a conceptual study for the C...

The Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, in collaboration with NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), is developing COSMOS (Comprehensive Open-architecture Space Mission Operations System), a set of software tools and hardware that is designed to primarily support the development and operations of one or more small...

Optimization problems in engineering are of major importance for the development of new structures, new materials, and even for new ways of improving engineering that are so demanding in today’s industry. The development of a biologically inspired methodology brings new ways for topology optimization to be applied in a multidisciplinary design appr...

Fundamental questions remain to be answered about the structure and composition of the lunar interior. Answering these questions will lead to a better determination of the bulk chemical composition of the Moon and the details of its differentiation. In turn, these will lead to improved knowledge of the formation and early melting histories of the i...

Since the Clementine mission in 1994, a number of lunar missions using small spacecraft have flown, including Lunar Prospector, SMART-1, Selene-A, Chang'e-1, and Chandrayan-1. Despite the increase in knowledge of lunar science provided by these all these missions and the original lunar missions of the 1960s and 1970s, there is still some valuable s...

The Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL) was established at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2007 and is developing a launch vehicle and satellites. The second HSFL launch, scheduled for 2012, is STU-2, which includes a spacecraft being designed and built by the HSFL. Control of the HSFL missions will be done in the HSFL Mission Operations Cen...

The Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL) was established at the University of Hawaii atManoa to educate students and help prepare themto enter the technical workforce, and to help establish a viable space industry that will benefit the State of Hawaii. In 2011 the first mission, STU-1, will be launched. It includes a spacecraft being designed and...