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    "story_id": "mp-2026-10-06-005",
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    "headline": "A Spacecraft Added Constraints Without Retraining",
    "slug": "a-spacecraft-added-constraints-without-retraining",
    "dek": "Separate diffusion energy models for approach geometry and sensor visibility were composed at inference time.",
    "summary": "Separate diffusion energy models for approach geometry and sensor visibility were composed at inference time.",
    "body_text": "On-orbit servicing needs trajectories that can respect different combinations of approach cones, sensor lines of sight and obstacles. The researchers trained separate energy-based diffusion models for individual constraints, then composed them at inference time with one another or with an analytic obstacle field. In the tested rendezvous cases, composed constraint satisfaction stayed within one percentage point of the corresponding single-constraint models or exceeded it. The evidence is simulation, not a flown mission, but the design offers a useful kind of modularity: new constraint combinations need not send the whole trajectory generator back through training.",
    "why_it_matters": "Separate diffusion energy models for approach geometry and sensor visibility were composed at inference time.",
    "limitations": [
      "The evidence is simulation, not a flown mission, but the design offers a useful kind of modularity: new constraint combinations need not send the whole trajectory generator back through training."
    ],
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    "first_published_at": "2026-10-06T09:00:00.000-04:00",
    "modified_at": "2026-10-06T09:00:00.000-04:00",
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        "text": "Separate diffusion energy models for approach geometry and sensor visibility were composed at inference time.",
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        "qualification": "The evidence is simulation, not a flown mission, but the design offers a useful kind of modularity: new constraint combinations need not send the whole trajectory generator back through training."
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    "source_ids": [
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    "tags": [
      "spacecraft rendezvous",
      "diffusion models",
      "trajectory planning"
    ],
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  "sources": [
    {
      "source_id": "source-2026-10-06-005",
      "title": "arXiv preprint 2610.05642",
      "publisher": "arXiv",
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      "published_at": "2026-10-04T20:39:18.000-04:00",
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    "name": "The Machine Press",
    "url": "https://themachinepress.com",
    "description": "A daily newspaper for the age of artificial intelligence."
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    "title": "A Spacecraft Added Constraints Without Retraining",
    "publisher": "The Machine Press",
    "published_at": "2026-10-06T09:00:00.000-04:00",
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