Costantinos Zagaris
Naval Postgraduate School, United States Air Force Research Laboratory
Papers
4
Total Citations
102
H-Index
4
About
Costantinos Zagaris is a researcher specializing in spacecraft guidance, autonomous orbital operations, and robotic manipulation systems, with a particular focus on the challenge of capturing uncooperative and tumbling resident space objects — a critical problem for active debris removal and on-orbit servicing missions. His most influential contribution, a convex-programming-based guidance algorithm for capturing tumbling objects using spacecraft-mounted robotic manipulators, has garnered 68 citations since its publication in 2018, establishing him as a notable voice in the field of autonomous space robotics. Zagaris has consistently pursued both theoretical rigor and experimental validation: his work on convex optimization for proximity maneuvering (2017, 18 citations) introduced locally optimal, computationally tractable solutions, while his laboratory demonstrations on hardware-in-the-loop test beds — simulating reduced-gravity spacecraft dynamics — showed a commendable commitment to bridging the gap between algorithm design and real-world implementation. His earlier work on Model Predictive Control hardware implementation further reflects a practical engineering sensibility. Collectively, his research addresses some of the most pressing challenges in space situational awareness and autonomous on-orbit operations, making his work highly relevant to the growing field of space debris mitigation.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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