Differential dynamic programming applied to interplanetary solar-sail trajectory optimization

Recent studies have shown the feasibility of differential dynamic programming (DDP) in optimizing Earth-centered solar-sail trajectories. In order to further demonstrate the ability of DDP in the optimization of solar-sail trajectories, this work investigates the performance of DDP for optimizing interplanetary solar-sail trajectories. The...

Online Surrogate Models for the Constrained Optimization of Interplanetary Low-Thrust Trajectories

The optimization of interplanetary, low-­thrust trajectories is a computationally expensive aspect of preliminary mission design. To reduce the computational burden associated with it, surrogate models can be used as cheap approximations of the original fitness function. Training the surrogate models in a fully online manner can be done to...

Many-revolution Earth-centred solar-sail trajectory optimisation using differential dynamic programming

This thesis demonstrates the usability of differential dynamic programming (DDP) to obtain, for the first time, globally optimal Earth-centred solar-sail trajectories. To this end, DDP is combined with a global optimisation heuristic, monotonic basin hopping. The dynamical model is implemented as a two-body problem, augmented with an ideal solar...

Low-Thrust Interplanetary Trajectory Optimization Using Pre-Trained Artificial Neural Network Surrogates

The use of low-thrust propulsion for interplanetary missions requires the implementation of new methods for the preliminary design of their trajectories. This thesis proposes a method using the Monotonic Basin Hopping global optimization algorithm to find feasible trajectories with optimum use of the mass of fuel for the case in which the...

Asteroid Transfer and Capture into a Heliocentric Orbit in the Vicinity of the Earth-Moon System

The idea of capturing an asteroid has gained more and more attention in recent years, sparked by rapid technological development and the growing general interest into the subject, both by scientists and commercial parties. The focus of this thesis project lies on transferring a near-Earth asteroid (NEA) from its original orbit to a safe, stable...

Characterisation of Shape-Based Methods and Combination with Coasting Arcs

Low-thrust propulsion's main advantage is its efficient propellant usage. This holds for manoeuvres as well as for major orbital changes, both for LEO/MEO/GEO satellites and for interplanetary missions. In designing such missions, extensive numerical models as well as less demanding analytic first-order approximations can be used. A specific...

Gaussian Process Models for Preliminary Low-Thrust Trajectory Optimization

Low-thrust trajectories can benefit the search for propellant-optimal trajectories, but increases in modeling complexity and computational load remain a challenge for efficient mission design and optimization. An approach for developing models utilizing Gaussian Process (GP) regression and classification is proposed to perform computationally...

Variational Multiple Shooting: Theory and Applications

Electric low-thrust propulsion has nowadays found wide application in space dynamics as it entails considerable savings in spacecraft propellant mass, thanks to the very high specific impulse that this kind of engine is able to generate. However, continuous thrust opens new extensive sets of feasible trajectories, and optimization algorithms are...

Development of an Improved Spherical Shaping Method for High-Inclination Trajectories

Over the past years, numerous missions for spacecraft with low-thrust propulsion have been planned to include large orbital plane changes. In order efficiently generate and evaluate orbits for such missions, use can be made of the spherical shaping method proposed by Novak. When inclinations larger than 15 degrees are present however, the error...

An Approach to Generalizing Taylor Series Integration for Low-Thrust Trajectories

The use of Taylor Series Integration (TSI) for the propagation of spacecraft trajectories and its combination with the relatively unknown Unified State Model (USM) coordinate system, resulting in the TSI-USM propagator, is known to allow fast propagation of interplanetary low-thrust trajectories. Unfortunately, the TSI-USM propagator is a...

Fundamentals of astrodynamics

This book deals with the motion of the center of mass of a spacecraft; this discipline is generally called astrodynamics. The book focuses on an analytical treatment of the motion of spacecraft and provides insight into the fundamentals of spacecraft orbit dynamics. A large number of topics are treated in a uniform and consistent way. The text...