Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Student Publications

Document Type

Poster

Publication Title

Northrop Grumman Engineering & Science Student Design Showcase

Abstract

Comets and asteroids have complex trajectories and are important for planetary defense and potential resources. Our team observed asteroid 6 Hebe (Hebe) with the Skynet Robotic Telescope Network and comets C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) and 3I/ATLAS (ATLAS) with the Ortega Observatory’s telescopes. We used a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation to determine their orbital elements, recreated their trajectories with our Orbit Visualizer, and generated porkchop plots to identify energy-efficient transfer windows. Our methods also produced simple, reusable tools that can help study small-body motion.

Advisor

David W. Harris, Juan Carlos Palacios

Publication Date

4-24-2026

Download

Included in

Physics Commons

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.