TY  - CHAP
A1  - Gehler, M.
A1  - Ober-Blöbaum, S.
A1  - Dachwald, Bernd
T1  - Application of discrete mechanics and optimal control to spacecraft in non-keplerian motion around small solar system bodies
T2  - Procceedings of the 60th International Astronautical Congress
N2  - Prolonged operations close to small solar system bodies require a sophisticated control logic to minimize propellant mass and maximize operational efficiency. A control logic based on Discrete Mechanics and Optimal Control (DMOC) is proposed and applied to both conventionally propelled and solar sail spacecraft operating at an arbitrarily shaped asteroid in the class of Itokawa. As an example, stand-off inertial hovering is considered, recently identified as a challenging part of the Marco Polo mission. The approach is easily extended to stand-off orbits. We show that DMOC is applicable to spacecraft control at small objects, in particular with regard to the fact that the changes in gravity are exploited by the algorithm to optimally control the spacecraft position. Furthermore, we provide some remarks on promising developments.
KW  - Spacecraft
Y1  - 2009
SN  - 978-161567908-9
N1  - 60th International Astronautical Congress 2009, IAC 2009; Daejeon; South Korea; 12 October 2009 through 16 October 2009
SP  - 1360
EP  - 1371
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  - 
TY  - CHAP
A1  - Spurmann, Jörn
A1  - Ohndorf, Andreas
A1  - Dachwald, Bernd
A1  - Seboldt, Wolfgang
A1  - Löb, Horst
A1  - Schartner, Karl-Heinz
T1  - Interplanetary trajectory optimization for a sep mission to Saturn
T2  - 60th International Astronautical Congress 2009
N2  - The recently proposed NASA and ESA missions to Saturn and Jupiter pose difficult tasks to mission designers because chemical propulsion scenarios are not capable of transferring heavy spacecraft into the outer solar system without the use of gravity assists. Thus our developed mission scenario based on the joint NASA/ESA Titan Saturn System Mission baselines solar electric propulsion to improve mission flexibility and transfer time. For the calculation of near-globally optimal low-thrust trajectories, we have used a method called Evolutionary Neurocontrol, which is implemented in the low-thrust trajectory optimization software InTrance. The studied solar electric propulsion scenario covers trajectory optimization of the interplanetary transfer including variations of the spacecraft's thrust level, the thrust unit's specific impulse and the solar power generator power level. Additionally developed software extensions enabled trajectory optimization with launcher-provided hyperbolic excess energy, a complex solar power generator model and a variable specific impulse ion engine model. For the investigated mission scenario, Evolutionary Neurocontrol yields good optimization results, which also hold valid for the more elaborate spacecraft models. Compared to Cassini/Huygens, the best found solutions have faster transfer times and a higher mission flexibility in general.
KW  - Spacecraft
KW  - Reusable Rocket Engines
KW  - Hybrid Propellants
Y1  - 2009
SN  - 9781615679089
N1  - 60th International Astronautical Congress 2009 (IAC 2009)
Held 12-16 October 2009, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
SP  - 5234
EP  - 5248
ER  -