Halo-to-Halo Low-Thrust Transfer via Successive Convex Optimization with Intermediate Orbit Design

Abstract

This paper proposes an algorithm to systematically search for a good sequence and the number of intermediate orbits in order to design the low-thrust minimum-fuel halo-to-halo transfer. The proposed algorithm applies successive convex optimization for the optimal transfer design, and initial guesses for the optimization are generated by beam search. In the beam search process, intermediate halo orbits that construct the initial guesses are chosen from a family of halo orbits so that they are located between the initial and final halo orbits. By determining the appropriate evaluation index for the intermediate orbit design, the proposed algorithm can collect local optimal solutions with a reasonable computational time. The obtained optimal transfers provide several options for the total △V and time of flight, which helps to find the suitable solution based on mission requirements.