Optimal Scheduling of GEO On-orbit Refuelling with Uncertain Object Satellites

Abstract

The mission planning of Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) on-orbit refuelling with uncertain object satellites is studied in this paper. Three key problems should be resolved here: Object Satellite (OSc) selection, mission sequence planning and transfer trajectory optimization. The optimization goal is to select the OSc and find the optimal servicing sequence with the best optimization objective value. Three optimization objectives, i.e. fuel cost, the total number of the OScs and the sum of the OSc priority value are taken into account. Considering this mission as a hybrid optimal control problem, a mathematical model is proposed. Multi-objective particle swarm optimization is employed to address the model. Several mission scenarios are compared and discussed. Numerical experiments indicate that 1) the method developed in this paper could address the problem efficiently; and 2) OSc distribution and varieties in optimization objective emphasis have considerable influences on the optimization results.