Science & Tech · AI · 3 hrs ago
Inha University team wins AIAA award for AI-guided landing research
An Inha University team in South Korea won a top paper award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics for research on spacecraft landings.
The team, led by aerospace engineering professor Jong-han Kim, developed a method that combines AI neural networks with optimization theory to calculate landing paths.
It replaces a key mathematical operation with an AI neural network, helping speed up the calculations.
The research suggests limited onboard computers could calculate six-degree-of-freedom paths accurately and quickly; these paths account for movement in three directions and rotation around three axes.
The approach could support vertical landings of reusable launch vehicles and precision landings on the Moon and Mars.
The award ceremony is scheduled for January at the AIAA SciTech Forum in the United States.
An Inha University research team won a best paper award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ Guidance, Navigation and Control Technical Committee.
The team combined artificial intelligence neural networks with optimization theory to calculate landing trajectories for launch vehicles and lunar and Mars landers.
Its method replaces a key nonlinear projection operation in trajectory calculations with an AI neural network.
The researchers said the approach could enable fast, accurate six-degree-of-freedom landing calculations on onboard computers with limited computing power.
The research could be used for vertical landings by reusable launch vehicles and precision landings by lunar and Mars landers.
- Who
- A team led by Professor Jong-han Kim of Inha University’s aerospace engineering department.
- What
- The team won a best paper award for research on AI-based spacecraft landing guidance.
- When
- The university announced the award on October 29, 2026.
- Where
- Inha University is in Incheon, South Korea. The award ceremony is scheduled to take place in the United States.
- Why
- The research proposed a method to calculate landing trajectories quickly and accurately, including on computers with limited computing power.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Inha University announced that its research team had been selected for the AIAA committee’s best paper award.
The award ceremony is scheduled for the AIAA SciTech Forum in the United States.
- Institution
- Inha University
- Awarding body
- AIAA Guidance, Navigation and Control Technical Committee
- Research lead
- Professor Jong-han Kim
- Research method
- AI neural networks combined with optimization theory
- Trajectory capability
- Six degrees of freedom
- Ceremony
- AIAA SciTech Forum, United States, January 2027