Cornelia Altenbuchner
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, National Institute of Aerospace, University of Maryland, College Park
Papers
3
Total Citations
17
H-Index
2
About
Cornelia Altenbuchner is a researcher specializing in spacecraft autonomy, fault diagnosis, and bioinspired robotics. Her work focuses on enabling self-sufficient robotic spacecraft to assess their own hardware health, a critical capability for long-duration missions. In her most cited paper (2021, 8 citations), she reports on the integration of a Model-Based Fault Diagnosis (MBFD) system into CubeSat flight software, using real flight data to validate onboard health estimation. This contribution directly supports autonomous decision-making for future deep-space missions. Earlier, she contributed to NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), analyzing the dynamic response of a robotic manipulator-based capture system for retrieving boulders from asteroids (2015, 7 citations). Her research also extends to bioinspired flight, where she validated a flexible multi-body structural dynamics model of an ornithopter through free-flight testing (2013, 2 citations). By bridging model-based diagnostics, robotic capture dynamics, and avian-inspired aerial robotics, Altenbuchner’s work advances both autonomous spacecraft operations and the design of small, agile aerial robots for civilian and military applications.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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