Adam Hibberd
I develop and apply advanced optimisation methods to difficult interplanetary and interstellar mission-design problems. My Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software—OITS—has been used extensively in Project Lyra’s investigation of missions to 1I/‘Oumuamua.
Explore Project LyraDiscover OITSA trajectory to another star’s visitor
This Earth-leveraging, Jupiter and Solar Oberth trajectory to 1I/‘Oumuamua was discovered and optimised using OITS. It shows how global optimisation can uncover mission architectures that are difficult to construct by intuition alone.
Project Lyra
Feasibility studies of missions to 1I/‘Oumuamua, including Jupiter-assisted and Solar Oberth architectures.
View the mission studies →OITS
Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software for solving complex multi-gravity-assist mission-design problems.
Explore the software →Research
Interstellar objects, advanced mission architectures, small bodies and computational astrodynamics.
Read the research →The work behind the trajectory
I began developing OITS in 2017, deriving its trajectory model and building an optimisation system capable of handling planetary encounters, deep-space manoeuvres and complex encounter sequences. After reproducing demanding reference missions such as Cassini, I applied OITS to Project Lyra’s search for technically feasible ways of reaching 1I/‘Oumuamua.