TY - JOUR A1 - Dachwald, Bernd T1 - Optimal Solar Sail Trajectories for Missions to the Outer Solar System JF - 22nd AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference and Exhibit - AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference and Exhibit - AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference and Exhibit - AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference and Exhibit - AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference and Exhibit : 16 - 19 August 2004, Providence, Rhode Island / American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. - (AIAA meeting papers on disc ; 2004,14-15) Y1 - 2004 N1 - American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics ; AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference and Exhibit <2004, Providence, RI> ; AIAA paper number: AIAA-2004-5406 PB - American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics CY - Reston, Va. ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Ohndorf, A. A1 - Seboldt, W. T1 - Optimierung der Lageregelung von Raumfahrzeugen mit Niedrigschubantrieb mittels evolutionärer neuronaler Regler / A. Ohndorf ; B. Dachwald ; W. Seboldt JF - Deutscher Luft- und Raumfahrtkongress 2005 : Friedrichshafen, 26. bis 29. September 2005, Motto: Luft- und Raumfahrt - Grenzen überwinden, Horizonte erweitern / Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth e.V. (DGLR). [Red.: Peter Brandt (verantwortlich)]. Bd. 3. - (Jahrbuch ... der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt Y1 - 2005 N1 - Deutscher Luft- und Raumfahrt-Kongress <2005, Friedrichshafen> ; Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth ; Dokumentnr: DGLR-2005-224 SP - 1971 EP - 1978 PB - DGLR CY - Bonn ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schoutetens, Frederic A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Heiligers, Jeannette T1 - Optimisation of photon-sail trajectories in the alpha-centauri system using evolutionary neurocontrol T2 - 8th ICATT (International Conference on Astrodynamics Tools and Techniques) 23 - 25 June 2021, Virtual N2 - With the increased interest for interstellar exploration after the discovery of exoplanets and the proposal by Breakthrough Starshot, this paper investigates the optimisation of photon-sail trajectories in Alpha Centauri. The prime objective is to find the optimal steering strategy for a photonic sail to get captured around one of the stars after a minimum-time transfer from Earth. By extending the idea of the Breakthrough Starshot project with a deceleration phase upon arrival, the mission’s scientific yield will be increased. As a secondary objective, transfer trajectories between the stars and orbit-raising manoeuvres to explore the habitable zones of the stars are investigated. All trajectories are optimised for minimum time of flight using the trajectory optimisation software InTrance. Depending on the sail technology, interstellar travel times of 77.6-18,790 years can be achieved, which presents an average improvement of 30% with respect to previous work. Still, significant technological development is required to reach and be captured in the Alpha-Centauri system in less than a century. Therefore, a fly-through mission arguably remains the only option for a first exploratory mission to Alpha Centauri, but the enticing results obtained in this work provide perspective for future long-residence missions to our closest neighbouring star system. Y1 - 2021 N1 - 8th ICATT (International Conference on Astrodynamics Tools and Techniques) 23 - 25 June 2021, Virtual SP - 1 EP - 15 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Seboldt, W. T1 - Optimization of Interplanetary Rendezvous Trajectories for Solar Sailcraft Using a Neurocontroller JF - A collection of technical papers / AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference : Monterey, California, 5 - 8 August 2002. - Vol. 2 Y1 - 2002 SN - 1-56347-549-9 N1 - Astrodynamics Specialist Conference <2002, Monterey, Calif.> American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics ; AIAA paper number: AIAA-2002-4989 SP - 1263 EP - 1270 PB - American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics CY - Reston, Va. ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dachwald, Bernd T1 - Optimization of Interplanetary Solar Sailcraft Trajectories Using Evolutionary Neurocontrol JF - Journal of guidance, control, and dynamics. 27 (2004), H. 1 Y1 - 2004 SN - 0162-3192 N1 - 2. ISSN: 0162-3192. - 3. ISSN: 0731-5090 SP - 66 EP - 72 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Ohndorf, A. A1 - Gill, E. T1 - Optimization of low-thrust Earth-Moon transfers using evolutionary neurocontrol / Ohndorf, A. ; Dachwald, B. ; Gill, E. JF - IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, 2009. CEC '09. Y1 - 2009 SN - 978-1-4244-2958-5 SP - 358 EP - 364 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dachwald, Bernd T1 - Optimization of very-low-thrust trajectories using evolutionary neurocontrol JF - Acta Astronautica. 57 (2005), H. 2-8 Y1 - 2005 SN - 0094-5765 SP - 175 EP - 185 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dachwald, Bernd T1 - Optimization of very-low-thrust trajectories using evolutionary neurocontrol JF - Acta Astronautica N2 - Searching optimal interplanetary trajectories for low-thrust spacecraft is usually a difficult and time-consuming task that involves much experience and expert knowledge in astrodynamics and optimal control theory. This is because the convergence behavior of traditional local optimizers, which are based on numerical optimal control methods, depends on an adequate initial guess, which is often hard to find, especially for very-low-thrust trajectories that necessitate many revolutions around the sun. The obtained solutions are typically close to the initial guess that is rarely close to the (unknown) global optimum. Within this paper, trajectory optimization problems are attacked from the perspective of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Inspired by natural archetypes, a smart global method for low-thrust trajectory optimization is proposed that fuses artificial neural networks and evolutionary algorithms into so-called evolutionary neurocontrollers. This novel method runs without an initial guess and does not require the attendance of an expert in astrodynamics and optimal control theory. This paper details how evolutionary neurocontrol works and how it could be implemented. The performance of the method is assessed for three different interplanetary missions with a thrust to mass ratio <0.15mN/kg (solar sail and nuclear electric). Y1 - 2005 SN - 1879-2030 VL - 57 IS - 2-8 SP - 175 EP - 185 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam [u.a.] ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Carnelli, I. A1 - Vasile, M. T1 - Optimizing low-thrust gravity assist interplanetary trajectories using evolutionary neurocontrollers / I. Carnelli ; B. Dachwald ; M. Vasile JF - IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, 2007 : CEC 2007 ; 25 - 28 September 2007, Singapore Y1 - 2007 SN - 978-1-424-41339-3 N1 - ISBN 10: 1-424-41339-7 ; IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation <2007, Singapore> ; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ; Nebent: CEC 2007 ; Parallel als Online-Ausg. erschienen SP - 965 EP - 972 PB - IEEE Service Center CY - Piscataway, NJ ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dachwald, Bernd A1 - Mengali, Giovanni A1 - Quarta, Alessandrao A. A1 - Macdonald, Malcolm T1 - Parametric Model and Optimal Control of Solar Sails with Optical Degradation JF - Journal of guidance, control, and dynamics. 29 (2006), H. 5 Y1 - 2006 SN - 0162-3192 N1 - 2. ISSN: 0731-5090 SP - 1170 EP - 1178 ER -