Systematic low-thrust trajectory design to Mars based on a full Ephemeris modeling

Publication date: Available online 19 August 2019Source: Advances in Space ResearchAuthor(s): Mohammadreza Saghamanesh, Ehsan Taheri, Hexi BaoyinAbstractOne of the fundamental tasks in space mission design is to choose a set of inter-disciplinary mission-critical parameters that are used for both sizing spacecraft sub-systems and designing optimal trajectories. Trajectory design and sub-system sizing are tightly coupled tasks and mission designers are interested in algorithms that not only improve fidelity of the underlying models, but also facilitate comprehensive trade-off studies using dependable algorithms. This paper presents a systematic-design/computationally-efficient framework that makes use of a recently developed hybrid optimization method, which is a fusion between homotopic approach and particle swarm optimization to perform a robust homotopic approach. A salient feature of this framework is the flexibility in altering the fidelity of the dynamical models to beyond the conventional two-body model by including perturbations due to: (1) other planets of the Solar System, (2) solar radiation pressure, and (3) the oblateness effects of the Earth. Moreover, a comprehensive study on the impact of using different types of thrusters, different hyperbolic excess velocity values, and different launch opportunities is conducted. Extensive numerical simulations are performed for a heliocentric rendezvous mission from Earth to Mars and the results are compared against those i...
Source: Advances in Space Research - Category: Science Source Type: research
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