Toward On-Board Guidance of Low-Thrust Spacecraft in Deep Space Using Sequential Convex Programming
Year: 2021
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: A robust algorithm to solve the low-thrust fuel-optimal trajectory optimization problem for interplanetary spacecraft is developed in this work.The original nonlinear optimal control problem is convexified and transformed into a parameter optimization problem using the adaptive flipped Radau pseudospectral discretization scheme.The switching times are determined and added as optimization variables in a subsequent optimization process to obtain an accurate on-off control structure.The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is shown in two numerical examples: minimum-fuel transfers from Earth to Venus and Earth to asteroid Dionysus.Simulations are carried out on a desktop computer and a single-board computer.The overall robustness is assessed by varying the quality of the initial guess through a shape-based method and compared to results in the literature and state-of-the-art solvers.The results show a superior performance in terms of computational effort compared to standard nonlinear programming solvers while yielding similar accuracy.
Authors: Christian Hofmann, Francesco Topputo
Language: English
Subfield: Aerospace Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3147389577