Spacecraft Trajectory Optimization

This is a long-overdue volume dedicated to space trajectory optimization. Interest in the subject has grown, as space missions of increasing levels of sophistication, complexity, and scientific return - hardly imaginable in the 1960s - have been designed and flown. Although the basic tools of optimization theory remain an accepted canon, there has been a revolution in the manner in which they are applied and in the development of numerical optimization. This volume purposely includes a variety of both analytical and numerical approaches to trajectory optimization. The choice of authors has been guided by the editor's intention to assemble the most expert and active researchers in the various specialities presented. The authors were given considerable freedom to choose their subjects, and although this may yield a somewhat eclectic volume, it also yields chapters written with palpable enthusiasm and relevance to contemporary problems.

1. The problem of spacecraft trajectory optimization Bruce A. Conway; 2. Primer vector theory and application John E. Prussing; 3. Spacecraft trajectory optimization using direct transcription and nonlinear programming Stephen W. Paris and Bruce A. Conway; 4. Elements of a software system for spacecraft trajectory optimization Cesar Ocampo; 5. Low-thrust trajectory optimization using orbital averaging and control parameterization Craig A. Kluever; 6. Analytic representation of optimal low-thrust transfer in circular orbit Jean A. Kechichian; 7. Global optimization and space pruning for spacecraft trajectory design Dario Izzo; 8. Incremental techniques for global space trajectory design Massimiliano Vasile and Matteo Ceriotti; 9. Optimal low-thrust trajectories using stable manifolds Christopher Martin and Bruce A. Conway.

Dedicated to space trajectory optimisation, this volume includes a variety of both analytical and numerical approaches to trajectory optimisation. The authors, all experts and active researchers in their areas of specialisation, have written chapters with palpable enthusiasm and relevance to contemporary problems.

Bruce Conway is a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He received his Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University in 1981. Professor Conway's research interests include orbital mechanics, optimal control, differential games, and improved methods for the numerical solution of problems in optimization.