Lihua Zhu^1,*, Yu Wang¹, Zhiqiang Wu¹, Cheire Cheng²

Intelligent Automation & Soft Computing, Vol.33, No.1, pp. 291-303, 2022, DOI:10.32604/iasc.2022.024252

Abstract The rapid developments of artificial intelligence in the last decade are influencing aerospace engineering to a great extent and research in this context is proliferating. In this paper, the trajectory optimization of a three-stage launch vehicle in the powering phase subject to the sun-synchronous orbit is considered. To solve the optimal control problem, the Gauss pseudo-spectral method (GPM) is used to transform the optimization model to a nonlinear programming (NLP) problem and sequential quadratic programming is applied to find the optimal solution. However, the sensitivity of the initial guess may cost the solver significant time to do the Newton iteration… More >

Jian Ma^1,2, Changxuan Wen³, Chen Zhang^2,*

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.126, No.2, pp. 617-644, 2021, DOI:10.32604/cmes.2021.014474

Abstract High-specific-impulse electric propulsion technology is promising for future space robotic debris removal in sun-synchronous orbits. Such a prospect involves solving a class of challenging problems of low-thrust orbital rendezvous between an active spacecraft and a free-flying debris. This study focuses on computing optimal low-thrust minimum-time many-revolution trajectories, considering the effects of the Earth oblateness perturbations and null thrust in Earth shadow. Firstly, a set of mean-element orbital dynamic equations of a chaser (spacecraft) and a target (debris) are derived by using the orbital averaging technique, and specifically a slow-changing state of the mean longitude difference is proposed to accommodate to… More >