Robyn Woollands

For More Information

• woollands research group

Education

• BS Physics, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, 2006
• MS Astronomy, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, 2008
• Graduate Certificate Antarctic Studies, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, 2008
• MS Aerospace Engineering, University of Minnesota, 2010
• PhD Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2016

Academic Positions

• Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M, 2017
• Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2017-2020
• Assistant Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2021-present (100%)

Other Professional Employment

• Junior Scientist, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Nova Neutrino Detector, University of Minnesota, 2011-2012
• Mission Design Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 2017-2020; JPL Affiliate (2021-present)

Research Interests

• Optimization
• Astrodynamics
• Space Mission Design
• Picard-Chebyshev Methods
• High-fidelity Propagation
• Space Domain Awareness

Selected Articles in Journals

• R.M. Woollands, A. Bani Younes, and J.L. Junkins, “New Solutions for Lambert's Problem Utilizing Regularization and Picard Iteration”, Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, v38, Issue 9, pp 1548-1562, 2015.
• R.M. Woollands and J.L. Junkins, “Nonlinear Differential Equations Solvers via Adaptive Picard-Chebyshev Iteration: Applications in Astrodynamics”, Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, May, 2019.
• M. Sanchez Net, E. Pellegrini, W. Parker, J. Vander Hook, R.M. Woollands, "Cycler Orbits and Solar System Pony Express", Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, January 2022.
• R.M. Woollands, F. Rossi, T. Stegun Vaquero, M. Sanchez Net, S. Bae, V. Bickel, J. Vander Hook, "Maximizing Dust Devil Follow-up Observations on Mars using Cubesats and On-board Scheduling", Journal of Astronautical Sciences, May 2022.
• A.M. Atallah, A. Bani Younes, R.M. Woollands, J.L. Junkins, "Analytical Radial Adaptive Method for Spherical Harmonic Gravity Models", Journal of Astronautical Sciences, May 2022.
• A. Pascarella, R.M. Woollands, Etienne Pellegrini, Marc Sanchez Net, Hua Xie, Joshua Vander Hook, "Low-thrust trajectory optimization for the solar system pony express", Acta Astronautica, February, 2023.
• B. Patrick, A. Pascarella, R.M. Woollands, "Hybrid Optimization of High-fidelity Low-thrust Transfers to the Lunar Gateway", Journal of Astronautical Sciences, August, 2023.
• D. Stanley, R.M. Woollands, F. Rossi, A. Rahmani, C. Choi, "Enabling Space-Based Computed Cloud Tomography with a Mixed Integer Linear Programming Scheduler", Journal of Guidance Control and Dynamics, July, 2024.
• H.Panag, R.Woollands, "Thruster Pointing Constrained Optimal Control for Satellite Servicing using Indirect Optimization", Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, October, 2024.
• B. Cline, A. Pascarella, J. Rovey, R.M. Woollands, Indirect Optimal Control Techniques for Multimode Mission Design, Acta Astronautica, October, 2024.
• A. Pascarella, R. Bommena, S. Eggl, R.M. Woollands, "Mission Design for Space Telescope Servicing at Sun-Earth L2", Acta Astronautica, November, 2024.
• R.Bommena, R. Woollands, "Indirect Trajectory Optimization with Path Constraints for Multi-Agent Proximity Operations", Journal of Astronautical Sciences, November, 2024.

Honors

• Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Young Investigator Career Award (2024)
• Distinguished Graduate Student Doctoral Award, Texas A&M University (2017)
• John V. Breakwell Student Paper Award, AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference (2015)
• Outstanding Achievement in Guidance, Navigation and Control, Student Paper Award, AAS Guidance, Navigation & Control Conference (2014)