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This paper addresses the spacecraft relative orbit reconfiguration problem of minimizing the delta-v cost of impulsive control actions while achieving a desired state in fixed time. The problem is posed in relative orbit element (ROE)…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2020-03-03 Michelle Chernick , Simone D'Amico

A numerical optimization study of minimum-fuel Earth-based orbital transfers from low-Earth orbit (LEO) to either medium-Earth orbit (MEO), high-Earth orbit (HEO), or geostationary orbit (GEO), is performed. Various values of maximum…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-06-29 Brittanny V. Holden , Anil V. Rao

This paper presents a method for incorporating control analysis into design optimization for highly-maneuverable aircraft. By studying reachable sets for aircraft dynamics, we ensure that the optimizer will take the aircraft's controlled…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-04-30 Steven Nguyen , Nicholas Orndorff , Jorge Cortés , Boris Kramer

We propose a reachability approach for infinite and finite horizon multi-objective optimization problems for low-thrust spacecraft trajectory design. The main advantage of the proposed method is that the Pareto front can be efficiently…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-02-21 Nikolaus Vertovec , Sina Ober-Blöbaum , Kostas Margellos

Optimal control problems are formulated and efficient computational procedures are proposed for combined orbital and rotational maneuvers of a rigid body in three dimensions. The rigid body is assumed to act under the influence of forces…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2016-11-15 Taeyoung Lee , N. Harris McClamroch , Melvin Leok

Multi-revolution low-thrust trajectory optimization problems are important and challenging in space mission design. In this paper, an efficient, accurate, and widely applicable pseudospectral method is proposed to solve multi-revolution…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-07-03 Yilin Zou , Fanghua Jiang

Mission designers must study many dynamical models to plan a low-cost spacecraft trajectory that satisfies mission constraints. They routinely use Poincar\'e maps to search for a suitable path through the interconnected web of periodic…

Chaotic Dynamics · Physics 2020-09-09 Xavier M. Tricoche , Wayne R. Schlei , Kathleen C. Howell

This study proposes a new automated strategy for designing and optimizing three-dimensional interplanetary low-thrust (LT) trajectories. The method formulates the design as a hybrid optimal control problem and solves it using a two-step…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2023-09-22 Burhani M. Burhani , Elena Fantino , Roberto Flores , Manuel Sanjurjo-Rivo

Long time-duration low-thrust nonlinear optimal spacecraft trajectory global search is a computationally and time expensive problem characterized by clustering patterns in locally optimal solutions. During preliminary mission design,…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-11-24 Jannik Graebner , Ryne Beeson

Low-thrust trajectory design relies heavily on repeated evaluations of fuel consumption and transfer feasibility, which require expensive optimal control solutions. In this work, we show these quantities can be accurately approximated by…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-05-28 Zhong Zhang , Giacomo Acciarini , Dario Izzo , Hexi Baoyin , Francesco Topputo

Trajectory design in cislunar space under a High-Fidelity Ephemeris Model (HFEM) is pursued through a nonlinear optimization perspective anchored on the transition of solutions from lower fidelity models, namely the Circular Restricted…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-03-27 António Nunes , Sérgio Brás , Pedro Batista , João Xavier

Invariant manifolds are the skeleton of the chaotic dynamics in Hamiltonian systems. In Celestial Mechanics, for instance, these geometrical structures are applied to a multitude of physical and practical problems, such as to the…

Chaotic Dynamics · Physics 2022-05-10 Vitor Martins de Oliveira

Recent low-thrust space missions have highlighted the importance of designing trajectories that are robust against uncertainties. In its complete form, this process is formulated as a nonlinear constrained stochastic optimal control…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-02-25 Naoya Ozaki , Stefano Campagnola , Ryu Funase

This work focuses on minimum-time low-thrust orbit transfers from a prescribed low Earth orbit to a specified low lunar orbit. The well-established indirect formulation of minimum-time orbit transfers is extended to a multibody dynamical…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2024-06-04 Alessandro Beolchi , Mauro Pontani , Chiara Pozzi , Elena Fantino

This paper formulates an optimal control problem for a system of rigid bodies that are connected by ball joints and immersed in an irrotational and incompressible fluid. The rigid bodies can translate and rotate in three-dimensional space,…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2009-09-23 Taeyoung Lee , Melvin Leok , N. Harris McClamroch

In the first part of this paper, inspired by the geometric method of Jean-Pierre Marec, we consider the two-impulse Hohmann transfer problem between two coplanar circular orbits as a constrained nonlinear programming problem. By using the…

Systems and Control · Computer Science 2018-12-31 Li Xie , Yiqun Zhang , Junyan Xu

In this paper we provide an optimal control based strategy to explore feasible trajectories of nonlinear systems, that is to find curves that satisfy the dynamics as well as point-wise state-input constraints. The strategy is interesting…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2011-12-06 Giuseppe Notarstefano , John Hauser

Periodic orbits (POs) play a central role in the circular restricted three-body problem (CRTBP). This paper introduces a method to search for POs by identifying single- and multiple-revolution fixed points in chosen Poincare maps that…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-09-17 Xingyu Zhou , Lorenzo Ano`e , Roberto Armellin , Dong Qiao , Xiangyu Li

Low-thrust trajectories play a crucial role in optimizing scientific output and cost efficiency in asteroid belt missions. Unlike high-thrust transfers, low-thrust trajectories require solving complex optimal control problems. This…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2024-05-30 Giacomo Acciarini , Laurent Beauregard , Dario Izzo

A method to establish regions of phase space through which pass no invariant tori transverse to a given direction field is applied to the planar circular restricted three-body problem. Implications for the location of stable orbits for…

Dynamical Systems · Mathematics 2022-04-13 Nikos Kallinikos , Robert S. MacKay , Tom Syndercombe