Actuation for Space Applications

Dear Colleagues, 

Space conquest, deep space exploration, space tourism, communication, and earth observation generate an increasing need for high-performance actuators and actuation systems, e.g., for thrust vector and attitude control, robotic arms and robotized tools, docking, deployment, and pointing mechanisms. All these applications must simultaneously meet incredibly specific constraints related to weight, energy consumption, reliability and availability, service life, and harsh environment. Given the wide range of power requirements, from Newtons to ton tens and microns to meters, space actuators involve vastly different technologies, such as electromagnetics, hydraulics, piezoelectric and smart memory alloys. 

Authors are invited to contribute to this Special Issue by submitting original research papers and review articles dealing with:

1. New applications and technologies;
2. Innovative design approaches for sizing and control;
3. Reliability, heath monitoring, and reconfiguration;
4. Advanced use of model-based/simulation-aided design;
5. Real and virtual testing methods and tools.

Prof. Dr. Jean-Charles Maré
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Actuators is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.