Celestial & Orbital Mechanics (CEU) Lab

The Celestial & Orbital Mechanics (CEU) Lab focuses on a broad range of topics in astrodynamics and celestial mechanics. Our research areas include:

• Orbital analysis, design, and control for space missions and astronomical application
• Orbital and rotational dynamics of natural and artificial celestial bodies
• Environmental force modeling in space
• Space debris mitigation and risk assessment
• Space situational and domain awareness
• Two- and three-body problems
• Perturbation theory
• Hamiltonian mechanics and dynamical systems

We aim to support both theoretical investigations and practical applications across a wide range of problems of interest to academic institutions, government agencies, and private industry.

The lab is led by Prof. Cardoso dos Santos, who maintains an extensive national and international network of collaborators across premier institutions in the United States, Europe, Japan, Brazil, and Israel. Research efforts have been supported by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and other leading governmental and institutional funding agencies from the aforementioned regions.

We welcome interest from students, researchers, and institutions who wish to collaborate or join our lab. Please feel free to reach out at any time via email at jcardoso@uccs.edu or through academic platforms.

Dr. Josue Cardoso dos Santos

Osborne Center for Science & Engineering (OCSE) A-431

College of Engineering and Applied Science

University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS)

1420 Austin Bluffs Pkwy, Colorado Springs, CO 80918