Global Optimality in Multi-Flyby Asteroid Trajectory Optimization: Theory and Application Techniques
Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Abstract: Designing optimal trajectories for multi-flyby asteroid missions is scientifically critical but technically challenging due to nonlinear dynamics, intermediate constraints, and numerous local optima. This paper establishes a method that approaches global optimality for multi-flyby trajectory optimization under a given sequence. The original optimal control problem with interior-point equality constraints is transformed into a multi-stage decision formulation. This reformulation enables direct application of dynamic programming in lower dimensions, and follows Bellman's principle of optimality. Moreover, the method provides a quantifiable bound on global optima errors introduced by discretization and approximation assumptions, thus ensuring a measure of confidence in the obtained solution. The method accommodates both impulsive and low-thrust maneuver schemes in rendezvous and flyby scenarios. Several computational techniques are introduced to enhance efficiency, including a specialized solution for bi-impulse cases and an adaptive step refinement strategy. The proposed method is validated through three problems: 1) an impulsive variant of the fourth Global Trajectory Optimization competition problem (GTOC4), 2) the GTOC11 problem, and 3) the original low-thrust GTOC4 problem. Each case demonstrates improvements in fuel consumption over the best-known trajectories. These results give evidence of the generality and effectiveness of the proposed method in global trajectory optimization.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Zhang, Zhong, Guo, Xiang, Wu, Di, Baoyin, Hexi, Li, Junfeng, Topputo, Francesco
Language: English
Subfield: Aerospace Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6948186820
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