Coupled attitude and trajectory optimization for a launcher tilting maneuver

TL;DR

This paper develops an efficient numerical method to solve minimum time control problems for launchers, accounting for complex trajectory and attitude dynamics, including singular and chattering arcs, demonstrated through numerical experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a combined indirect numerical and continuation method to compute optimal launcher trajectories with singular arcs, improving robustness and efficiency.

Findings

Method effectively handles singular and chattering arcs.

Numerical experiments confirm robustness and efficiency.

Optimal trajectories computed successfully for complex launcher dynamics.

Abstract

We study the minimum time control problem of the launchers. The optimal trajectories of the problem may contain singular arcs, and thus chattering arcs. The motion of the launcher is described by its attitude kinematics and dynamics and also by its trajectory dynamics. Based on the nature of the system, we implement an efficient indirect numerical method, combined with numerical continuation, to compute numerically the optimal solutions of the problem. Numerical experiments show the efficiency and the robustness of the proposed method.