Incorporating the nonlinearity index into adaptive-mesh sequential convex optimization for minimum-fuel low-thrust trajectory design

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel adaptive mesh refinement method incorporating a nonlinearity index into SCP, improving stability and efficiency in designing minimum-fuel low-thrust spacecraft trajectories.

Contribution

It presents a new mesh refinement strategy using a nonlinearity index within SCP, enhancing stability for low-thrust trajectory optimization.

Findings

Effective in Earth-to-Asteroid rendezvous mission

Successful in Earth-Moon L2 Halo transfer

Improves stability and accuracy of trajectory solutions

Abstract

Successive convex programming (SCP) is a powerful class of direct optimization methods, known for its polynomial complexity and computational efficiency, making it particularly suitable for autonomous applications. Direct methods are also referred to as ``discretize-then-optimize'' with discretization being a fundamental solution step. A key step in all practical direct methods is mesh refinement, which aims to refine the solution resolution by enhancing the precision and quality of discretization techniques through strategic distribution and placement of mesh/grid points. We propose a novel method to enhance adaptive mesh refinement stability by integrating it with a nonlinearity-index-based trust-region strategy within the SCP framework for spacecraft trajectory design. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through solving minimum-fuel, low-thrust missions, including a benchmark Earth-to-Asteroid rendezvous and an Earth-Moon L2 Halo-to-Halo transfer using the Circular Restricted Three-Body (CR3BP) model.