In the last years the interest in electric propulsion is continuously increasing in the space industry due to the advantages in saving propellant mass and decreasing the total cost of a mission. The research activity deals with the robust design of low-thrust trajectories via differential dynamic programming to exploit the current electric propulsion systems. The aim is to derive a model to perform surfing manoeuvring in the low-thrust field enhancing the effect of orbital perturbations.
Research outcomes
- Improvement of differential dynamic programming techniques considering a more comfortable set of parameters (orbital elements) instead of the Cartesian representation
- Refinement of orbital perturbations modelling
- Surfing manoeuvring assessment
Advisor
Researchers