Robyn Woollands

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• 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
• In-Space Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (ISAM)

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, Vol. 38, Issue 9, pp. 1548-1562, September 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, Vol. 42, Issue 5, pp. 1007-1022, May 2019.
• M. Sanchez Net, E. Pellegrini, W. Parker, J. Vander Hook, and R.M. Woollands, "Cycler Orbits and Solar System Pony Express," Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 59, Issue 3, pp. 861-870, May 2022.
• R.M. Woollands, F. Rossi, T. Stegun Vaquero, M. Sanchez Net, S. Bae, V. Bickel, and J. Vander Hook, "Maximizing Dust Devil Follow-up Observations on Mars using Cubesats and On-board Scheduling," The Journal of the Astronautical Sciences, Vol. 69, Issue 3, pp. 918-940, June 2022.
• A.M. Atallah, A. Bani Younes, R.M. Woollands, and J.L. Junkins, "Analytical Radial Adaptive Method for Spherical Harmonic Gravity Models," The Journal of the Astronautical Sciences, Vol. 69, Issue 3, pp. 745-766, June 2022.
• A. Pascarella, R.M. Woollands, E. Pellegrini, M. Sanchez Net, H. Xie, and J. Vander Hook, "Low-Thrust Trajectory Optimization for the Solar System Pony Express," Acta Astronautica, Vol. 203, pp. 280-290, February 2023.
• B. Patrick, A. Pascarella, and R.M. Woollands, "Hybrid Optimization of High-fidelity Low-thrust Transfers to the Lunar Gateway," The Journal of the Astronautical Sciences, Vol. 70, Issue 4, Article 27, August 2023.
• B.C. Cline, A. Pascarella, J.L. Rovey, and R.M. Woollands, "Indirect Optimal Control Techniques for Multimode Propulsion Mission Design," Acta Astronautica, Vol. 223, pp. 759-776, October 2024.
• A. Pascarella, R. Bommena, S. Eggl, and R.M. Woollands, "Mission Design for Space Telescope Servicing at Sun-Earth L2," Acta Astronautica, Vol. 224, pp. 397-414, November 2024.
• R. Bommena and R.M. Woollands, "Indirect Trajectory Optimization with Path Constraints for Multi-Agent Proximity Operations," The Journal of the Astronautical Sciences, Vol. 71, Issue 6, Article 54, December 2024.
• D. Stanley, R.M. Woollands, F. Rossi, A. Rahmani, and C. Choi, "Enabling Space-Based Computed Cloud Tomography with a Mixed Integer Linear Programming Scheduler," Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 62, Issue 2, pp. 323-328, March 2025.
• H. Panag and R.M. Woollands, "Thruster-Pointing-Constrained Optimal Control for Satellite Servicing using Indirect Optimization," Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 62, Issue 3, pp. 749-761, May 2025.

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)