Curriculum Vitae

Below is a summary of some of my work and interests, as of May 2023. I encourage you to instead download the up-to-date PDF version here, which is current for March 2025.

Objective

I’ve always been inspired by the promise of space and the many ways in which it can move humanity forward. My work leverages distributed systems and autonomy for meaningful, equitable, sustainable utilisation of our space environment and the exploration of new frontiers.

My current research interests include:

• Autonomous guidance, navigation and control of spacecraft
• State estimation in GNSS-denied environments (specifically, via optical angles-only methods)
• Spacecraft swarms, constellations and distributed space systems
• Spacecraft mission design and optimization

Education

Research Experience

Teaching Experience

Recent Publications

Kruger, J., Koenig, A. W., D’Amico, S.;
The Starling Formation-Flying Optical Experiment (StarFOX): System Design, Experiment Design and Pre-Flight Verification;
Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets (under review)

Kruger, J., D’Amico, S.;
Angles-Only Tracking and Navigation for Approach and Rendezvous in Geosynchronous Orbits;
33rd AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Meeting, Austin, Texas, January 15-19 (2023)

Kruger, J., D’Amico, S.;
Observability Analysis and Optimization for Angles-Only Navigation of Distributed Space Systems;
11th International Workshop on Satellite Constellations & Formation Flying, Milano, Italy, June 7-10 (2022)

Iiyama, K., Kruger, J., D’Amico, S.;
Autonomous Distributed Angles-Only Navigation and Timekeeping in Lunar Orbit;
ION International Technical Meeting, Long Beach, California, January 24-27 (2022)

Kruger, J., D’Amico, S.;
Autonomous Angles-Only Multitarget Tracking for Spacecraft Swarms;
Acta Astronautica, Volume 189, September 2021, pp. 514-529

Sullivan, J., Koenig, A. W., Kruger, J., D’Amico, S.;
Generalized Angles-Only Navigation Architecture for Autonomous Distributed Space Systems;
Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 44, No. 6 (2021), pp. 1087-1105

Koenig A. W., Kruger J., Sullivan J., D’Amico S.;
ARTMS: Enabling Autonomous Distributed Angles-Only Orbit Estimation for Spacecraft Swarms;
2021 American Control Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, May 26-28 (2021)

Kruger J., Wallace K., Koenig A. W., D’Amico S.;
Autonomous Angles-Only Navigation for Spacecraft Swarms around Planetary Bodies;
IEEE Aerospace Conference, Yellowstone Conference Center, Big Sky, Montana, March 6-13 (2021)

Kruger J., Rogg A., Gonzalez R.;
Estimating Wheel Slip of a Planetary Exploration Rover via Unsupervised Machine Learning;
IEEE Aerospace Conference, Yellowstone Conference Center, Big Sky, Montana, March 2-9 (2019)

Awards and Fellowships

2022: Excellent Reviewer | Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics | AIAA

2021: M Charles Fogg Award for Best Paper | IEEE Aerospace Conference | IEEE

2018: 1st Place | NASA/BOEM Next Generation Animal Tracking Challenge | NASA

2017: Robert H. Cannon Fellowship | Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics | Stanford University

2014: Argyle Award | St George’s College | University of Western Australia

2010: Fogarty Foundation Regional Scholarship | University of Western Australia

Interests

• Creative writing. I’d love to publish a book one day! I’m about 75% through writing this one.
• Playing tennis. Also, watching Roger Federer play tennis.
• Playing the piano, whenever I have sufficient determination to properly practice.
• LEGO models that are unreasonably large.
• An anime about Japanese high-schoolers playing volleyball. (It’s good, trust me.)
• A video game about the end of the universe and what comes after.
• Seals. Yes, the animal.
• Chocolate.

Contact

Email: justin {at} justin {dot} zone

LinkedIn

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Google Scholar