An Optimization of Orbital Transfer for Spacecrafts with Finite-thrust Based on Legendre Pseudospectral Method

This paper presents the use of Legendre pseudospectral method for the optimization of finite-thrust orbital transfer for spacecrafts. In order to get an accurate solution, the System-s dynamics equations were normalized through a dimensionless method. The Legendre pseudospectral method is based on interpolating functions on Legendre-Gauss-Lobatto (LGL) quadrature nodes. This is used to transform the optimal control problem into a constrained parameter optimization problem. The developed novel optimization algorithm can be used to solve similar optimization problems of spacecraft finite-thrust orbital transfer. The results of a numerical simulation verified the validity of the proposed optimization method. The simulation results reveal that pseudospectral optimization method is a promising method for real-time trajectory optimization and provides good accuracy and fast convergence.

Authors:

• Yanan Yang
• Zhigang Wang
• Xiang Chen

Keywords:

• Finite-thrust
• Orbital transfer
• Legendre pseudospectral method

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