• Getting snake-y

    March 31, 2018

    Switching my orbit simulations from MATLAB to Python: getting an RK4 solver and 3D orbit plotting working with scipy and matplotlib.

  • Learning to land

    December 9, 2017

    A grad-school independent study: teaching a spacecraft to avoid obstacles during descent and landing on Mars with a Q-learning agent, and comparing it to a greedy baseline.

  • Titan Entry, Descent, & Landing

    May 8, 2016

    My senior design mission to land a science payload on a methane lake at Titan's north pole: modeling the atmosphere, drag, and a Monte Carlo landing ellipse to prove a parachute EDL system could hit Ligeia Mare.

  • Orbits with Attitude

    December 12, 2015

    Adding real orbital dynamics to the CubeSat attitude simulator: integrating Newton's equations of motion alongside Euler's, and watching a small continuous thrust reshape the orbit while keeping it planar.

  • Interplanetary Interception

    November 1, 2015

    Solving Lambert's Problem to plot an efficient Earth-to-Mars interception trajectory, leading the planet the way a receiver leads a football.