Unconstrained Direct Optimization of Spacecraft Trajectories Using Many Embedded Lambert Problems

Direct optimization of many-revolution spacecraft trajectories is performed using an unconstrained formulation with many short-arc, embedded Lambert problems. Each Lambert problem shares its terminal positions with neighboring segments to implicitly enforce position continuity. Use of embedded boundary value problems (EBVPs) is not new to spacecraft trajectory optimization, including extensive use in primer vector theory, flyby tour design, and direct impulsive maneuver optimization. Several obstacles have prevented their use on problems with more than a few dozen segments, including computationally expensive solvers, lack of fast and accurate partial derivatives, unguaranteed convergence, and a non-smooth solution space. Here, these problems are overcome through the use of short-arc segments and a recently developed Lambert solver, complete with the necessary fast and accurate partial derivatives. These short arcs guarantee existence and uniqueness for the Lambert solutions when transfer angles are limited to less than a half revolution. Furthermore, the use of many short segments simultaneously approximates low-thrust and eliminates the need to specify impulsive maneuver quantity or location. For preliminary trajectory optimization, the EBVP technique is simple to implement, benefiting from an unconstrained formulation, the well-known Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno line search direction, and Cartesian coordinates. Moreover, the technique is naturally parallelizable via the independence of each segment’s EBVP. This new, many-rev EBVP technique is scalable and reliable for trajectories with thousands of segments. Several minimum fuel and energy examples are demonstrated, including a problem with 6143 segments for 256 revolutions, found within 5.5 h on a single processor. Smaller problems with only hundreds of segments take minutes.