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Space Engineering pp 151–176Cite as

Designing Complex Interplanetary Trajectories for the Global Trajectory Optimization Competitions

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Part of the book series: Springer Optimization and Its Applications ((SOIA,volume 114))

Abstract

The design of interplanetary trajectories often involves a preliminary search for options later refined/assembled into one final trajectory. It is this broad search that, often being intractable, inspires the international event called Global Trajectory Optimization Competition. In the first part of this chapter, we introduce some fundamental problems of space flight mechanics, building blocks of any attempt to participate successfully in these competitions, and we describe the use of the open source software PyKEP to solve them. In the second part, we formulate an instance of a multiple asteroid rendezvous problem, related to the 7th edition of the competition, and we show step by step how to build a possible solution strategy. In doing so, we introduce two new techniques useful in the design of this particular mission type: the use of an asteroid phasing value and its surrogates and the efficient computation of asteroid clusters. We show how the basic building blocks, sided to these innovative ideas, allow designing an effective global search for possible trajectories.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://sophia.estec.esa.int/gtoc_portal/.

  2. 2.

    https://github.com/esa/pykep/.

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Acknowledgement

Luís F. Simões was supported by FCT (Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia) Fellowship SFRH/BD/84381/2012.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. European Space Agency, ESTEC, 2201AZ, Noordwijk, The Netherlands

    Dario Izzo

  2. DFKI GmbH, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Daniel Hennes

  3. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Luís F. Simões

  4. TU Delft, 2628CD, Delft, The Netherlands

    Marcus Märtens

Authors
  1. Dario Izzo
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  2. Daniel Hennes
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  3. Luís F. Simões
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  4. Marcus Märtens
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dario Izzo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Exploration and Science Thales Alenia Space, Turin, Italy

    Giorgio Fasano

  2. PCS Inc., Halifax, NS, Canada

    János D. Pintér

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Izzo, D., Hennes, D., Simões, L.F., Märtens, M. (2016). Designing Complex Interplanetary Trajectories for the Global Trajectory Optimization Competitions. In: Fasano, G., Pintér, J.D. (eds) Space Engineering. Springer Optimization and Its Applications, vol 114. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41508-6_6

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