Daniel Kucharski
Research Associate Computational Astronautical Sciences and Technologies
Centers and Groups
Biography
Dr. Daniel Kucharski is a Research Associate at the University of Texas at Austin, Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences (since 2018). He has previously worked at Borowiec SLR station, Poland (2005-2006), Graz SLR station, Austria (2006-2011), Hitotsubashi University, Japan (2009-2010), Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, South Korea (2011-2015), Australian National University (2015-2016) and Space Environment Research Centre, Australia (2016-2019). He received his M.S. in Mechatronics and Ph.D. in Geodesy and Cartography from the Warsaw University of Technology, Poland and the Space Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences respectively.
Daniel's work is focused on the space object characterization through the attitude dynamics measurement, analysis and modeling with the utilization of the high-resolution imaging and the hypertemporal photon counting technology, as well as low- and high-power laser ranging. The dedication to the single-photon detection allowed him demonstrating novel methods of Quanta Photogrammetry, where the solar photons reflected off of an orbiting object are projected onto the satellite body-fixed coordinate frame through the modeled attitude tensor. The resulting high-resolution photograms are used in the development of the space object unique identification and characterization methods. The long-term focus of Daniel’s research is the development of the high-fidelity physics-based models for the Neural Networks that will enable the full and rapid satellite attitude determination, prediction and anomaly detection for the improved orbit determination and conjunction analyses of the operational and defunct space objects.