Orbit Clustering Based on Transfer Cost
Eric Gustafson, Juan J. Arrieta–Camacho, Anastassios E. Petropoulos · AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Meeting · 2013
We propose using cluster analysis to perform quick screening for combinatorial global optimization problems. The key missing component currently preventing cluster analysis from use in this context is the lack of a useable metric function that defines the cost to transfer between two orbits. We study several proposed metrics and clustering algorithms, including k-means and the expectation maximization algorithm. We also show that proven heuristic methods such as the Q-law can be modified to work with cluster analysis.