Space research
Trajectory optimisation, interstellar-object missions, small-body dynamics and the practical interpretation of limited observational data.
Principal research areas
Interstellar-object missions
Mission architectures for reaching objects on hyperbolic trajectories, especially 1I/‘Oumuamua through Project Lyra.
Explore Project Lyra →Trajectory optimisation
Global searches across gravity assists, encounter epochs, deep-space manoeuvres and close-solar Oberth strategies.
Explore OITS →Small-body investigations
Combining astrometry, light curves, nongravitational-force models and spacecraft geometry to test unusual hypotheses.
Computational astrodynamics
Numerical propagation, parameter estimation and optimisation methods developed for difficult mission-design and orbit-analysis problems.
Technical documentation →How the work is approached
Each investigation begins with a concrete dynamical question. Analytical reasoning is used to reduce the problem, numerical models test the remaining possibilities, and observational or mission constraints are applied before conclusions are drawn.
Research philosophy
Unconventional possibilities are worth examining when they can be expressed as quantitative, falsifiable problems. The standard is not whether an idea is surprising, but whether the dynamics, observations and physical model support it.
Phobos 1 photometric model
Explore interactive visualisations of the approximated Phobos 1 spacecraft rotating at the 82° and 61° observed solar phase angles, shown alongside the measured and fitted light curves.