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, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS), has been selected for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Visiting Faculty Research Program (VFRP), a competitive initiative that embeds university faculty in AFRL facilities to advance cutting-edge research alongside the nation’s top defense scientists and engineers.

This summer, Sanyal will conduct research focused on estimating and predicting the trajectories of resident space objects (RSOs) using intermittent “short arc” measurements—a critical challenge in space domain awareness as the number of objects in Earth’s orbit continues to grow.

The AFRL VFRP fosters long-term collaborations between academic researchers and the Air Force Research Laboratory, strengthening ties between university expertise and national defense priorities.

The research will expand on previous research Sanyal did through the VFRP program in summer 2024. During that work, Sanyal worked with his AFRL mentor, Andrew Dianetti, to develop an orbit and uncertainty prediction scheme that is stable and robust to time-varying uncertainties on the dynamics of RSOs.

These uncertainties are primarily due to interactions between the upper atmosphere, the solar wind and the geomagnetic field. Those factors pose challenges to long-term accurate prediction of RSO trajectories from measurements carried out by ground and space-based sensors. These sensors can only view a short segment of an RSO’s trajectory.

“This summer, I will develop this research further by developing a novel machine learning approach to model the uncertain dynamics and find patterns in the uncertainties,” says Sanyal. “The goal is to use this summer research as preliminary research for a future research proposal to AFOSR [the Air Force Office of Scientific Research] on formation maneuvers involving multiple spacecraft doing active maneuvering for capturing potentially hazardous and inactive RSOs, which will involve energy and momentum interchange between the active spacecraft and inactive RSO. It can also be used by the Space Surveillance Network to predict RSO orbits and potentially identify actively maneuvering targets.”

“Professor Sanyal’s selection for the AFRL Visiting Faculty Research Program is a strong endorsement of his leadership in space systems and uncertainty-aware dynamics,” says , interim associate dean for research in ECS. “His work addresses a critical national need in space domain awareness, and it exemplifies how fundamental research at the University can translate into impactful solutions for national defense and space safety.”

“Professor Sanyal’s work contributes directly to the advancement of the mechanical and aerospace engineering department’s strategic research area of aerospace exploration, robotics and autonomous systems. Congratulations to Professor Sanyal for receiving this prestigious award,” says , interim chair of mechanical and aerospace engineering.