Interactive Visualization for Spacecraft Dynamics and Trajectory Optimization

Professor Ocampo and his graduate and undergraduate students are using the Visualization Laboratory and the Maverick machine at TACC to develop a multi-spacecraft, multi-propulsion system facility for orbital trajectory design and optimization. With support from NASA, they are developing interactive, three-dimensional visualizations to aid in designing optimal spacecraft trajectories that take into account the orbital parameters of existing and planned spacecraft. They are also developing an interactive simulation of spacecraft attitude dynamics with six degrees of freedom.