NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Spacecraft Attitude Maneuver Planning Using Genetic AlgorithmsA key enabling technology that leads to greater spacecraft autonomy is the capability to autonomously and optimally slew the spacecraft from and to different attitudes while operating under a number of celestial and dynamic constraints. The task of finding an attitude trajectory that meets all the constraints is a formidable one, in particular for orbiting or fly-by spacecraft where the constraints and initial and final conditions are of time-varying nature. This approach for attitude path planning makes full use of a priori constraint knowledge and is computationally tractable enough to be executed onboard a spacecraft. The approach is based on incorporating the constraints into a cost function and using a Genetic Algorithm to iteratively search for and optimize the solution. This results in a directed random search that explores a large part of the solution space while maintaining the knowledge of good solutions from iteration to iteration. A solution obtained this way may be used as is or as an initial solution to initialize additional deterministic optimization algorithms. A number of representative case examples for time-fixed and time-varying conditions yielded search times that are typically on the order of minutes, thus demonstrating the viability of this method. This approach is applicable to all deep space and planet Earth missions requiring greater spacecraft autonomy, and greatly facilitates navigation and science observation planning.
Document ID
20110016857
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Other - NASA Tech Brief
Authors
Kornfeld, Richard P.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
June 1, 2004
Publication Information
Publication: NASA Tech Briefs, June 2004
Subject Category
Space Communications, Spacecraft Communications, Command And Tracking
Report/Patent Number
NPO-40107
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
No Preview Available