An Initial Trajectory Design for the Multi-Target Exploration of the Electric Sail

Abstract

The electric sail (E-sail), as an emerging propulsion system with an infinite specific impulse, is particularly suitable for ultra-long-distance multi-target deep-space exploration missions. If multiple gravity assists are considered during the exploration process, it can effectively improve the exploration efficiency of the E-sail. This paper proposes a fast optimization algorithm for deep-space multi-target exploration trajectories for the E-sail, which achieves the exploration of multiple celestial bodies and solar-system boundaries in one flight, and introduces a gravity assist to improve the flight speed of the E-sail during the exploration process. By comparing simulation examples under different conditions, the effectiveness of the algorithm proposed in this paper has been demonstrated. This is of great significance for the initial rapid design of complex deep-space exploration missions such as the E-sail multi-target exploration.

Keywords

• E-sail
• multi-target exploration
• gravity assist
• solar-system boundaries