Autonomous Space Ops - Astrodynamics - Machine Learning

Daniel Huterer Prats

PhD student in Aerospace Engineering at CU Boulder AVS Lab, building autonomous scheduling and inspection systems for spacecraft operations under real mission constraints.

My work combines reinforcement learning, orbital mechanics, and safety-aware planning to support scalable on-orbit decision-making for surveillance, servicing, and exploration missions.

Boulder, CO

Autonomous Space Ops Reinforcement Learning Astrodynamics Safety-Critical Planning

Research Highlights Publications About Me

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Latest

Most recent conference activity and preview media.

AAS GN&C 2026

LEO-to-Any Autonomous Imaging Scheduling

Latest public update: autonomous space-based imaging with reinforcement-learning scheduling under downlink latency and onboard resource constraints, presented at the AAS Rocky Mountain GN&C Conference.

Paper PDF Conference Program Talk Video

Work

Chronological path across research and industry. Scroll to reveal each step; organization names link to official pages.

Aug 2024+

Autonomous Vehicle Systems Lab Graduate Research Assistant - Boulder, CO - Aug 2024 to Present

Developing Basilisk RL environments for LEO-to-space surveillance and autonomous scheduling with strict safety and illumination constraints.
Aug 2024

Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics GNC Engineer - Boulder, CO - Aug 2024 to Jan 2025

Simulated open/closed-loop maneuvers for the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt and ran Monte Carlo analyses for gravity-assist and flyby scenarios.
Jan 2024

Infinite Orbits Systems Engineer and Project Coordinator - Toulouse, France - Jan 2024 to Aug 2024

Led systems engineering and project coordination for a European Commission OTV consortium, including rendezvous and docking safety concepts.
Aug 2023

ALTEN Aerospace Consultant - Toulouse, France - Aug 2023 to Jan 2024

Owned ESSP FastMon updates and GNSS monitoring pipelines, and contributed to aerodynamics optimization work for Olympic track cycling.
Sep 2022

UPC Space Systems Lead + Astrodynamics Research - Barcelona, Spain - Sep 2022 to Jul 2023

Led wildfire-tracking mission design and developed a multi-gravity-assist optimization tool balancing transfer delta-v and arrival time.
Jun 2021

NYU Abu Dhabi Lead Project Engineer / Summer Research Assistant - Abu Dhabi, UAE - Jun 2021 to Aug 2022

Led high-power rocketry development and built ML-ready planetary-science data pipelines for atmospheric opacity and temperature-pressure modeling.
May 2019

NYUAD Galaxy Formation Group Undergraduate Research Assistant - Abu Dhabi, UAE - May 2019 to Jun 2023

Analyzed NIHAO galaxy simulations and tidal stripping effects to study dark matter and baryonic structure evolution across dwarf galaxies.

Selected Projects and Papers

Highlighted conference papers and core projects, with expandable previews for selected works.

AMOS 2025 • Conference

RL for LEO-to-LEO Space-to-Space Imaging

Actor-critic scheduling for autonomous imaging in LEO under downlink latency, LOS, power, storage, and pointing constraints.

Preview and links

Focused on high-frequency target imaging in LEO with onboard power/data limits, eclipse constraints, and latency-aware downlink windows.

Project Page Paper PDF Talk Video

LEO-to-any space-to-space imaging simulation snapshot

AAS GN&C 2026 • Conference

RL for LEO-to-Any Space-to-Space Imaging

Extends autonomous imaging beyond same-regime targeting with resource-aware actions and latency-aware downlink behavior.

Preview and links

Generalizes the inspection scheduler to broader orbital geometries with robust resource management and timely downlink policy behavior.

LEO-to-any mission scenario simulation snapshot

Paper PDF Conference Program Talk Video

Journal (MNRAS)

Dark Matter and Galaxy Formation

Co-authored work on how tidal interactions can produce dark-matter-deficient galaxies in realistic cosmological contexts.

Preview and links

This study connects simulated tidal stripping dynamics with observed low dark-matter signatures in dwarf galaxies.

Paper PDF ADS Abstract

Trajectory Design

Multi-Gravity Assist Optimization

Evolutionary trajectory design for gravity-assist sequences, trading transfer time against total delta-v.

Preview and links

The optimization pipeline orders planetary flybys and timing windows to discover efficient and non-intuitive interplanetary transfers.

Paper PDF

Systems Study

Moon and Mars Water Purification

Comparative architecture study for extraction and purification of subsurface water under planetary constraints.

Preview and links

Evaluates purification chains and energy-resource tradeoffs for sustained lunar and Martian in-situ operations.

Moon and Mars water purification paper preview

Paper PDF

Mission Control and Space Highlights

Live ISS orbital context with global journey city markers, plus a weekly space image feed.

ISS Live Mission Control

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