Papers
2
Total Citations
24
H-Index
2
About
Cecily Sunday is a leading researcher in robotic space exploration, specializing in the intersection of additive manufacturing and planetary surface interactions. Her work centers on developing durable, high-performance excavating tools for future missions to the Moon, Mars, and small bodies. In her highly cited 2020 study (22 citations), she pioneered the additive manufacturing of excavating tools using laser powder bed fusion, testing alloys like Ti-6Al-4V, 316L stainless steel, and Inconel 625 with ceramic reinforcements—a critical step toward enabling in-situ resource utilization on other worlds. Sunday also advances our understanding of rover mobility in low-gravity environments, using soft-sphere discrete element method (SSDEM) simulations to study rover-regolith interactions. Her 2022 work on Froude scaling for rovers on small body surfaces provides a framework for predicting rover performance on asteroids and comets, where gravity is dramatically reduced. By combining materials science with planetary robotics, Sunday is shaping the next generation of autonomous space excavation systems, directly supporting NASA's goals for sustainable human exploration beyond Earth.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2Froude scaling for rovers on small body surfaces 2 citations · 2022