Optimal Earth-Capture Trajectories Using Electric Propulsion
Craig A. Kluever · Journal of Guidance Control and Dynamics · 2002
Conclusions A trajectory optimization tool has been developed which hybridized a GA with SQP. When applied to the dif cult problem of preliminarymission planning for high-performancesolar sail transfers to displaced NKOs, it appeared to identify near-optimal trajectories with relative ease. The transfer time penalties (estimated from transfer time convergence as the number of segments was increased) appear acceptable even for a small number of segments (four or ve). A small number of segments reduced the computational burden imposed by using a GA and would simplify attitude control in practice.