Richard Linares

Specialization and Research Interests

Astrodynamics, space situational awareness, satellite guidance and navigation, estimation and controls, optimal control, reinforcement learning

Academic Degrees

2014, Ph.D. Aerospace Engineering, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York; 2011, M.S. Aerospace Engineering, University at Buffalo; 2009, B.S. Aerospace Engineering, University at Buffalo

Society Memberships

American Astronautical Society, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Positions Held at MIT

Assistant Professor, Aeronautics and Astronautics, July 2018 — 2022
Associate Professor, Aeronautics and Astronautics, July 2022 — present

Positions Held outside MIT

Assistant Professor, Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics, University of Minnesota, 2015 – 2018; Postdoctoral Associate, United States Naval Observatory (USNO), Washington D.C., 2014 – 2015; Director’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 2013 – 2015; Visiting Researcher, United States Air Force Research Lab (AFRL), Maui High Performance Computing, Maui, HI, May-July 2014; Visiting Researcher, United States Air Force Research Lab (AFRL), Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, NM, 2012 – 2013; Research Aerospace Engineer, Calspan-University at Buffalo Research Center (CUBRC Inc.), Buffalo, NY, 2010 – 2012; Graduate Research Assistant, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, Sep-May 2010

Awards & Honors

• Young Faculty Award, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), 2020
• Frontiers of Engineering, National Academy of Engineering, 2019
• Young Investigator Research Program Award, Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), 2018
• Director’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2013
• Vela Fellowship, Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2012

Research

• Approximate Analytical Solution to the Zonal Harmonics Problem Using Koopman Operator Theory Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics (2021), Arnas, D., & Linares, R.
• Definition of Low Earth Orbit slotting architectures using 2D lattice flower constellations. Advances in Space Research (2021), Arnas, D., Lifson, M., Linares, R., & Avendaño, M. E.
• A set of orbital elements to fully represent the zonal harmonics around an oblate celestial body Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2021), Arnas, D., & Linares, R.
• Real‐Time Thermospheric Density Estimation via Radar and GPS Tracking Data Assimilation Space Weather (2021), Gondelach, D. J., & Linares, R.
• Real‐time thermospheric density estimation via two‐line element data assimilation Space Weather (2020), Gondelach, D. J., & Linares, R.