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Topic · Aerospace Engineering

Space Satellite Systems and Control

Space Satellite Systems and Control is a research topic within Aerospace Engineering. Science Explorer counts 22k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the technologies and methods related to space debris removal and on-orbit servicing. It covers topics such as active debris removal, space robotics, tethered satellite systems, orbit determination, collision probability, laser propulsion, pose estimation, and electrodynamic tethers.

  • Space Debris
  • On-Orbit Servicing
  • Active Debris Removal
  • Space Robotics
  • Tethered Satellite Systems
  • Orbit Determination
  • Collision Probability
  • Laser Propulsion
  • Pose Estimation
  • Electrodynamic Tethers
Research works
22k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+58%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
45% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Space Satellite Systems and Control

Which countries lead Space Satellite Systems and Control research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (2.2k and 1k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 2.2k works
  2. 2 United States 1k works
  3. 3 Italy 299 works
  4. 4 Russia 241 works
  5. 5 India 218 works
  6. 6 Japan 200 works
  7. 7 Germany 178 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 172 works
  9. 9 France 125 works
  10. 10 Canada 110 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 45.4%United States: 22.0%Italy: 6.3%Russia: 5.1%6 others listed: 21.2%45%largest
China2,152 · 45.4%United States1,043 · 22.0%Italy299 · 6.3%Russia241 · 5.1%6 others listed1,003 · 21.2%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Space Satellite Systems and Control research?

By volume in 2022-now, Harbin Institute of Technology publishes the most Space Satellite Systems and Control research, followed by Chinese Academy of Sciences and China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 214 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 154 works
  3. 3 China Aerospace Science and Technology CorporationChina 148 works
  4. 4 Beihang UniversityChina 116 works
  5. 5 Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 113 works
  6. 6 Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 103 works
  7. 7 Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsChina 95 works
  8. 8 National University of Defense TechnologyChina 80 works
  9. 9 Politecnico di MilanoItaly 67 works
  10. 10 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 61 works

Who are the leading researchers in Space Satellite Systems and Control?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Space Satellite Systems and Control include Xiaogang Wang, Michael Snyder and Kai You Wang.

  1. 1 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  2. 2 Michael Snyder United States 224k citations
  3. 3 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  4. 4 Michael Phillips Australia 199k citations
  5. 5 Edward H. Witten United States 174k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Space Satellite Systems and Control?

The most cited paper in Space Satellite Systems and Control is "Kinetics and Kinematics for Translational Motions in Microgravity During Parabolic Flight" (Leia A. Stirling, Karen E. Willcox, Philip A. Ferguson et al., 2009), with 5,266 citations. Next come "Deterministic and Stochastic Optimal Control." (2,711) and "Foundations of solid mechanics" (1,960).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Kinetics and Kinematics for Translational Motions in Microgravity During Parabolic Flight Leia A. Stirling, Karen E. Willcox, Philip A. Ferguson et al. · Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine Jun 2009 5,266
2 Deterministic and Stochastic Optimal Control. J. A. Bather, Wendell H. Fleming, Raymond Rishel · Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A (General) 1976 2,711
3 Foundations of solid mechanics Frank Pohle · Journal of the Franklin Institute Apr 1966 1,960
4 Preshaping Command Inputs to Reduce System Vibration Neil C. Singer, Warren P. Seering · Journal of Dynamic Systems Measurement and Control Open access Mar 1990 1,646
5 A review of space robotics technologies for on-orbit servicing Ángel Flores-Abad, Ou Ma, Khanh Pham et al. · Progress in Aerospace Sciences 29 Mar 2014 1,346
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Space Satellite Systems and Control research done?

The largest centres of Space Satellite Systems and Control research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Harbin (China), Xi'an (China) and Nanjing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Pasadena and Samara.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 785 works
  2. 2 HarbinChina 234 works
  3. 3 Xi'anChina 186 works
  4. 4 NanjingChina 183 works
  5. 5 ShanghaiChina 145 works
  6. 6 MoscowRussia 127 works
  7. 7 TokyoJapan 111 works
  8. 8 ChangshaChina 103 works
  9. 9 RomeItaly 72 works
  10. 10 MilanItaly 71 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. PasadenaUS · 47.9 works20×
  2. SamaraRU · 41.5 works18×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Space Satellite Systems and Control than the world average.

See Space Satellite Systems and Control on the map

Where is the best place to study Space Satellite Systems and Control?

Among universities, judged by research, Harbin Institute of Technology, York University and Politecnico di Milano score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 18.69%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →York UniversityNanjing University o…Harbin Institute of …Politecnico di Milano
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 71.016.6%27.2×214 +71.8%
2York UniversityCanada 68.327.5%12.7×22 +0.1%
3Politecnico di MilanoItaly 67.816.1%19.3×67 +150.2%
4Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsChina 67.518.0%22.3×95 +105.0%
5Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 66.817.2%20.6×113 +26.3%
6Beihang UniversityChina 63.413.4%21.9×116 +34.2%
7University of LuxembourgLuxembourg 62.722.3%15.0×17 +351.9%
8Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 61.412.8%18.1×103 +128.7%
9Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore 60.124.2%2.4×9 +103.6%
10Tsinghua UniversityChina 58.718.8%4.0×45 +19.5%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Space Satellite Systems and Control, country by country

Is Space Satellite Systems and Control research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 58% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Space Satellite Systems and Control.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Space Satellite Systems and Control as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.025% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Space Satellite Systems and Control0.029% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Space Satellite Systems and Control over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Space Satellite Systems and Control9.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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