Adam Hibberd
I’ve been setting my software, ‘Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software’ (OITS) challenging tasks which take ages to solve but are uniquely solvable by my software.
I am looking at Sample Return missions atm, specifically ones which rendezvous with the target, loiter with it, then return home to Earth. The loiter phase includes a lander being dispatched by the spacecraft, picking up a sample from the asteroid’s surface, and returning to the mother craft. The mother craft then leaves the asteroid and heads home.
The key task astrodynamically speaking is how on Earth do we lower the velocity increment needed to match velocity with the asteroid?
The answer to this question is to be in an orbit as close to that of the asteroid’s as possible.
This means one may have to conduct one or more GAs (Gravity Assists) with Earth, for example, to alter the spacecraft’s orbital path to gradually manipulate it so that its orbital elements are as close as possible to that of the target’s.
This is the challenge I have set OITS, and a massive challenge at that. Results so far are inconclusive since it might well just be a matter of waiting long enough for the solution combination to fully converge.
The solutions I’m getting are tantalizingly close to being viable, I so wish and hope that ultimately there is a way!