Michael Swartwout, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Education
Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics, Stanford University
M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Research Interests
Swartwout鈥檚 primary research work is performed through the Space Systems Research Laboratory. Design and operation of low-cost spacecraft - Swartwout is particularly interested in the ways that universities can leverage their very high tolerance for risk to introduce new technologies and architectures that will improve the 鈥減rofessional鈥� space industry. The best recent example of this is the CubeSat standard, developed by Profs. Twiggs (then at Stanford) and Puig-Suari (Cal-Poly), where more than 50 CubeSats were launched in the first six years - a blink of the eye in aerospace time. His interests are in identifying technologies, yes, but also understanding why certain ideas catch on and others don鈥檛. Space situational awareness - SSA is the ability to define and (very importantly) predict the space environment. SSA includes both the natural space environment (radiation, electromagnetic activity, the trace atmosphere) and man-made (both active spacecraft and debris). Dr. Swartwout鈥檚 particular interest is in detecting, characterizing and observing nearby spacecraft. Space history, space logistics, and space mission failures - While those topics appear to have very little in common (other than the word 鈥渟pace鈥�), the three are tightly intertwined: the success and failure of past space missions (and especially the reasons for those failures) have a direct effect on the logistics of modern space missions (i.e., the organizations involved in space and the manner in which spacecraft are designed, tested, launched and operated). Some speak of the 鈥渃ost and risk death spiral鈥� of modern space missions, where expensive spacecraft cannot be allowed to fail, which means additional time and money is spent on redundancies, analysis and testing, which means they are even more expensive, which makes it even more necessary to eliminate failure, which means additional time and money on redundancies, analysis, and testing 鈥� he鈥檚 interested in spiraling the other direction, where we build missions so inexpensively that we can fly more of them, and can afford to let one or two fail. This isn鈥檛 a matter of just spending less money, but of carefully defining missions, risk and the way in which one will approach the design process.
Labs and Facilities
The Space Systems Research Laboratory is a facility for conducting fundamental research and flight demonstrations related to the design, fabrication, testing and operation of space vehicles. A major objective of the laboratory is to improve the performance and reduce the cost of space systems, expressed in four related research topics: Design and Operation of Nano and Pico Spacecraft; Space Situational Awareness (SSA); Spacecraft Technologies; and Space History, Logistics and Mission Failures.
Publications and Media Placements
Printed Archival Peer-Reviewed Journals
Swartwout, M.A., 鈥淧erspectives in Critical Research Areas in Space Systems鈥�, Journal
of Aviation and Aerospace Perspectives 1(1), 2011.
Online Peer-Reviewed Journals
Swartwout, M.A.,鈥漈he First One Hundred CubeSats: A Statistical Look鈥�, Journal of Small
Satellites, Vol. 02, Issue 02 (Dec 2013) pp. 213-233.
Peer-Reviewed Conference Papers
Swartwout, M. A., Jayaram, S. (2013). 鈥淎n Introductory Course in Practical Systems
Engineering鈥�. 120th ASEE Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA, 25 June 2013. Paper 6816.
Swartwout, M. A. (2013). 鈥淐heaper by the Dozen: The Avalanche of Rideshares in the
21st Century鈥�. 2013 IEEE Aerospace Conference. Big Sky, MT, March 2013. doi: 10.1109/AERO.2013.6497182
Swartwout, M. A., Jayaram, S. 鈥淪pacecraft Integration and Test: An Undergraduate course
in Systems Engineering Practice鈥�, ASEE Annual Conference, San Antonio, TX, June 2012.
Swartwout, M. A., Reed, R., Jayaram, S., Weller, R., 鈥淎rgus: A Flight Campaign for
Modeling the Effects of Space Radiation on Modern Electronics鈥�, 2012 IEEE Aerospace
Conference, Big Sky, MT, 4-10 March 2012, paper 1221. doi: 10.1109/AERO.2012.6187028
Swartwout, M. A., 鈥淎 Statistical Survey of Rideshares (and Attack of the CubeSats,
Part Deux)鈥�, 2012 IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, MT, 4-10 March 2012, paper 1220.
doi: 10.1109/AERO.2012.6187008
Swartwout, M. A., 鈥淎 brief history of rideshares,鈥� 2011 IEEE Aerospace Conference,
Big Sky, MT, 5-12 March 2011, paper 1518. doi: 10.1109/AERO.2011.5747233 In Proceedings
Swartwout, M. A., 鈥淎rgus: Radiation Effects Modeling on a University Nanosat鈥�, 26th
Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites, Logan, UT, 15 August 2012, Paper SSC12-VII-05.
Swartwout, M. A., 鈥淎ttack of the CubeSats: a statistical look鈥�, 25th Annual AIAA/USU
Conference on Small Satellites, Logan, UT, 9 August 2011, Paper SSC11-XI-04.
Swartwout, M. A., 鈥淭he Promise of Innovation From University Space Systems: Are We
Meeting It?鈥�, 23rd Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites, 13 August 2009,
paper SSC09-XII-3.
Professional Organizations and Associations
Swartwout is a Senior Member of AIAA, and member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and Tau Beta Pi. He is 91女神鈥檚 representative to the Missouri Space Grant Consortium, and one of 91女神鈥檚 KEEN iFaculty fellows.
Community Work and Service
Michael Swartwout, Ph. D., joined the 91女神 faculty as of 2009 as an assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Parks. He worked at Washington University in Saint Louis previously from 2000 to 2009. His teaching is concentrated in three areas: design, dynamics/control and space systems. As a student, he was involved with many student-built space missions, most notably Sapphire (launched in 2001). Now, as co-director of Parks鈥� Space Systems Research Laboratory, Swartwout trains 91女神 students to launch their own spacecraft: 91女神-01/COPPER (launching in late 2013), 91女神-02/Argus (2014) and 91女神-03/Rascal (2015).