NEAR-OPTIMAL LOW-THRUST ORBIT TRANSFERS GENERATED BY A GENETIC ALGORITHM

The effectiveness of a genetic algorithm to design near-optimal low-th rust trajectories is investigated. The orbit transfer is broken into s egments and a thrust direction is encoded over each of the segments. A thrust/no-thrust variable allows the trajectory to exhibit coast arcs . Constant and variable thrust propulsion systems are modeled. The thr ust profile for a minimum-time Earth-to-Mars constant thrust, and fixe d-time Earth-to-Mercury variable thrust trajectories are supplied.