Mattia Pugliatti
PostDoc fellow, ORCCA group

I am a PostDoc at the ORCCA (Orbital Research Cluster for Celestial Applications) group, at the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research (CCAR), University of of Colorado Boulder, under the supervision of Prof. Jay McMahon.
My areas of interest are autonomous optical navigation, artificial intelligence, GNC, and small-bodies exploration. My research is focused on embedding data-driven image-processing perception algorithms for autonomous navigation, segmentation, hazard detection, and shape recognition with small irregular celestial bodies such as comets and asteroids. My career goal is to become a specialist in interplanetary missions and design of cutting-edge autonomous, optical-based systems.
I am always searching for new opportunities to expand my research and collaborate with experts from diverse fields in pursuit of my goals. I have always liked a good challenge and with this mentality I have traveled the world as a space engineer, gaining valuable experiences both from a personal and professional standpoint. I have had the privilege of visiting and working in several locations, including Bremen (DFKI), Tucson (University of Arizona), Madrid (GMV), Tokyo (ISAS/JAXA), Friedrichshafen (Airbus Defense and Space), Delft (TU Delft), and my hometown of Milan (DART, Politecnico di Milano). To date, I have contributed to CubeSat (Milani, EQUULEUS), smallsat (DESTINY+), and traditional (HERA) missions, as well as research projects with national (ASI, ESA) and international (JAXA, NASA) space agencies at various capacities.