Engineering Project: Review and Comparison of Open Source Mission Analysis Tools

Institute

Lehrstuhl für Astrodynamik (TUM-ED)

Type

Bachelor's Thesis /

Content

 

Description

The Chair of Astrodynamics at TU Munich offers an Engineering Project focused on the review and comparison of open-source tools for space mission analysis. Mission analysis is a key activity in space mission design and operations, including trajectory design, orbit propagation, attitude analysis, and coverage evaluation.
In recent years, open-source mission analysis tools have gained increasing attention due to their transparency, flexibility, and accessibility for research and educational use. However, their capabilities, limitations, and suitability for different mission design tasks are often not systematically assessed. This project aims to identify and evaluate existing open-source mission analysis tools, analyzing their features, usability, extensibility, and applicability to representative mission scenarios. The results will provide guidance on the strengths and limitations of these tools and their potential use in research and educational contexts.
All work will follow systems engineering and software development best practices, including requirement definition, version control, structured evaluation methodologies, and reproducible analysis workflows.
Before applying, please read the following task description and necessary prerequisites carefully. If you are interested in the project and feel you are a good fit, send a short motivational statement (max 1 page), a tabular CV, a current transcript and a description/list of any relevant projects you previously took part in to supervision.coa<script>document.write('@');</script>

<noscript>(at)</noscript>ed.tum.de. This project is intended for 2-3 students. Therefore, feel free to apply either as a group or individually.

Requirements

• Identification of and familiarization with relevant open-source mission analysis tools (e.g., orbit propagation, trajectory optimization, coverage analysis, mission design environments)
• Review of software capabilities, supported models and methods, and documentation quality
• Definition of evaluation criteria for mission analysis tools
• Implementation of representative mission analysis scenarios
• Comparison of results, performance, and workflow among different tools
• Identification of strengths, limitations, and typical application domains
• Preparation of example workflows and demonstration cases
• Documentation of findings and formulation of recommendations for tool usage

Possible start

sofort

Contact

Silvia Busi
silvia.busitum.de

Announcement