Ga. Rauwolf et Vl. Coverstonecarroll, NEAR-OPTIMAL LOW-THRUST ORBIT TRANSFERS GENERATED BY A GENETIC ALGORITHM, Journal of spacecraft and rockets, 33(6), 1996, pp. 859-862
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.