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About

Rebecca Foust is a pioneering aerospace engineer whose research sits at the intersection of spacecraft autonomy, swarm robotics, and in-orbit assembly. Her work addresses one of space exploration's most ambitious frontiers: enabling constellations of small, modular satellites to autonomously build large structures directly in orbit, fundamentally reimagining how humanity constructs assets in space. Her most influential contribution, "Autonomous in-orbit satellite assembly from a modular heterogeneous swarm" (2020), has garnered 54 citations and established her as a leading voice in swarm-based space construction. Complementing this, her development of the Multi-Spacecraft Testbed for Autonomy Research (M-STAR)—a six-degree-of-freedom spacecraft dynamics simulator—provided the research community with a rigorous hardware platform for validating formation control and relative navigation algorithms, earning 24 citations since 2018. Foust has also advanced the practical challenges of satellite rendezvous through her work on ultra-soft electromagnetic docking technologies, offering safer, repeatable docking solutions suited for multi-assembly missions. Her research on optimal guidance algorithms for heterogeneous swarms further bridges theoretical planning with experimental validation. Collectively, her contributions are shaping the foundational tools and methodologies that will make modular, in-orbit space construction a tangible reality.