Dr. Fantino holds a degree in Astronomy and earned her Ph.D. in Space Sciences and Space Technologies from the University of Padua, Italy. Her career spans both industry and academia, with expertise in astrodynamics and celestial mechanics, space mission analysis, space geodesy, and astrometry. She has actively contributed to numerous research and development initiatives led by the Italian Space Agency and the European Space Agency.
Following postdoctoral appointments in Italy and Spain, Dr. Fantino joined the School of Aeronautical Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, where she served as a lecturer and later as an associate professor. In 2017, she became a faculty member in the Aerospace Engineering Department at Khalifa University, where she has played a key role in shaping the space technologies curriculum.
Dr. Fantino has supervised several undergraduate and graduate students, both locally and internationally, and has provided mentorship to junior faculty and research staff. Her research is supported by Khalifa University grants and strengthened through collaborations with national and international partners.
Dr. Fantino currently serves as vice-chair of the Astrodynamics Technical Committee of the International Astronautical Federation. She is a corresponding member of the International Academy of Astronautics and a permanent member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. She is also affiliated with the Space Dynamics Group at the Technical University of Madrid.
At Khalifa University, Dr. Fantino founded the ASTRO research team, which includes a senior research scientist, a postdoctoral fellow, and three Ph.D. students. The team maintains active collaborations with leading researchers around the world.
Building next generation orbit propagation and analysis capabilities (supported by Khalifa University's Competitive Internal Research Award - 2022 cycle, PI: E. Fantino, Co-PI: Hadi Susanto - Mathematics Department)
The project seeks to expand the trajectory analysis software of the Astrodynamics group of Khalifa University with capabilities for
1) propagation of mean orbital elements in N-body systems with the inclusion of complex perturbations such as interactionsbetween non-spherical shapes of celestial objects and their effect on the translational and rotational dynamics
2) application of Lagrangian descriptors to the identification of dynamic structures in systems containing a spacecraft and several celestial bodies.
Efficient design of optimal low-energy trajectories to Near Earth Objects (joint work with Embry Riddle Aeronautical University / Daytona Beach - Florida, Purdue University / West Lafayette - Indiana)
The project focuses on the development of an efficient technique to design optimal spacecraft transfers from the Earth's vicinity to Near Earth Objects. The method exploits the natural dynamics of the circular restricted three-body problem and the analytical properties of the two-body problem. The current version of the method is applied to the design of trajectories to low-inclination NEOs. Unstable invariant manifold trajectories or transit orbits emanating from planar Lyapunov orbits around L1 or L2 of the Sun-Earth CR3BP often intersect the orbits of NEOs. Two-body approximations of these trajectories far from the Earth yield a simple analytical model to compute rendezvous opportunities.
Modern Methods in Celestial Mechanics and Applications: orbits, transport and control (funded by Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and European Union, joint work with Polytechnic University of Catalonia / Barcelona - Spain)
The project focuses on the development of methodologies to further understand the underlying nonlinear dynamics and introduce low-thrust control techniques with application to new emerging of solar sail technologies.
Long-term orbital evolution of decommissioned geostationary satellites (joint work with Sapienza University of Rome / Rome - Italy and International Center for Numerical Methods in Engineering / Barcelona - Spain)
Accurate numerical propagation, chaos indicators, Lagrangian descriptors.
Design and optimization of satellite constellations for terrestrial and lunar geolocation (joint work with Technology Innovation Institute, Abu Dhabi)
Design of a low-thrust trajectory to rendezvous with Halley comet in 2061 (joint work with University of Padua and University of Naples ”Parthenope”, Naples, Italy)
Design of planetary moon exploration tours leveraging the invariant structures of the circular restricted three-body problem
Hall Effect Propulsion in Space Engineering - ELLIPSE (external research grant funded by Technology Innovation Institute)
