Problem Description for the

7th Global Trajectory Optimisation Competition

Lorenzo Casalino
Politecnico di Torino
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Aerospaziale
Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24
10129 Torino - Italy
Guido Colasurdo
Universit` a di Roma Sapienza
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Aerospaziale
Via Eudossiana 18
00184 Roma - Italy
Background
The Global Trajectory Optimisation Competition was inaugurated in 2005 by Dario Izzo
of the Advanced Concepts Team, European Space Agency. After the rst edition, follow-
ing competitions were organized by the winning team of the preceding GTOC edition:
the Outer Planet Mission Analysis Group of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (GTOC2);
the Aerospace Propulsion Group of the Dipartimento di Energetica of the Politecnico
di Torino (GTOC3); the Interplanetary Mission Analysis Group of the Centre National
dEtudes Spatiales de Toulouse (GTOC4); the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of
Lomonosov Moscow State University (GTOC5) and, for the second time, the Outer Planet
Mission Analysis Group of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (GTOC6). This tradition is
maintained, and the joint team Politecnico di Torino - Universit`a di Roma Sapienza
is pleased to organize the seventh edition of the competition, GTOC7. This document
reveals the problem that is to be solved for GTOC7.
Introduction
Global optimization consists in nding the global optimum of a given performance index in
a large domain, typically characterized by the presence of a large number of local optima.
The existing methods to solve such problems in trajectory optimization, as shown by the
results of previous GTOC editions, are
local optimization methods on selected subsets of the whole domain;
global optimization methods that scan the whole domain.
The latter are obviously preferable when the whole domain can actually be explored
completely, eciently and with sucient accuracy; otherwise methods to prune the less
promising solutions must be adopted. On the other hand, when the domain is large,
methods to dene the subsets to be explored by local optimizer must be sought by using
sorts of global exploration procedures. Under this point of view, the juxtaposition
between global and local methods seem to become more subtle and even vanish.
1
The problem proposed for this year competition aims at fullling the following criteria:
the design space is large and a large number of local optima exist;
the problem is complex but not overwhelming, and can be analyzed within the
prescribed 4-week time frame;
its mathematical formulation is suciently simple so that it should also be solved
by researchers not experienced in astrodynamics;
even though registered teams may have developed tools for the analysis of the pro-
posed kind of mission, the problem peculiarities should make it new to all the teams.
As in GTOC1 through GTOC5 a low-thrust heliocentric mission is considered, but impul-
sive maneuver are also introduced in the analysis of a mission with multiple cooperating
spacecraft.
Problem Description
Generalities
The proposed mission is a multiple-ship mission to Main Belt asteroids. A mother ship
launches form Earth and releases, at proper times, exploration probes, which must ren-
dezvous with one or more asteroids and then return to and rendezvous with the mother
ship. This problem may have an interest per se as far as asteroid missions are concerned,
but has also similarities with geocentric missions for satellite refurbishment or debris
removal.
The mother ship employs high-thrust nuclear propulsion. The probes have autonomous
electric propulsion systems. Gravity assists are excluded. The primary performance index
to be maximized is the overall number of asteroids reached by the probes. The sum of
probe masses at end of mission is the problem secondary performance index in case of tie
between teams.
Spacecraft and Trajectory Constraints
A mother ship is launched from the Earth, with hyperbolic excess velocity v

between 0
and 6 km/s, with unconstrained direction. The escape mass is 24000 kg and is assumed
to be independent of v

. The launch can happen on any date between January 1, 2021

00:00 UT (modied Julian date MJD 59215) and December 31, 2030 24:00 UT (MJD
62867), inclusive.
The mother-ship departure mass is composed of: 6000 kg of xed masses (structures,
propulsion system, etc.) 12000 kg of propellant for the mother ship propulsion system,
three probes weighing 2000 kg each. Each probe is released from the mother ship at
any time after departure, performs rendezvous with one or more asteroids and returns to
the mother ship for rendezvous. The probes must remain at each reached asteroid for a
minimum time of 30 days. Rendezvous prescribes that spacecraft position and velocity
are the same as those of the target body; the probe thruster is o during the stay at the
asteroids, before release, and after rendezvous with the mother ship. For each probe, the
2
time from release to rendezvous with the mother ship must be at most 6 years. The time
from mother ship departure from Earth to rendezvous with the last probe must be at
most 12 years.
The mother ship has a propulsion system based on a nuclear thermal rocket (NTR).
Since the NTR thrust is large, mother ship maneuvers must be modeled as impulses, which
instantaneously change the mother ship velocity (and mass). The propellant for each
impulse is evaluated according to Tsiolkowskys rocket equation. A maximum number of
10 impulses is admitted, provided there is sucient propellant. The specic impulse of
the NTR rocket is assumed to be (I
sp
)
NTR
= 900 s.
Each probe leaves the mother ship with zero relative velocity and has an electric
propulsion (EP) system, with specic impulse (I
sp
)
EP
of 3000 s and a maximum thrust
level T
max
of 0.3 N. There is no constraint on the thrust direction. The spacecraft mass
only varies because of the propellant consumption during thrusting and is otherwise con-
stant (no mass dumping or collecting is allowed). The 2000 kg of probe mass are divided
in 800 kg of xed masses (structure, payload, propulsion system, etc.) and 1200 kg of
propellant for the EP system.
Performance index
Objective of the optimization is to maximize the number of visited asteroid. One point
is assigned for each asteroid that:
(at least) one probe has had rendezvous with;
the same probe has stayed in rendezvous conditions with it for at least 30 days;
the same probe has returned to and has performed rendezvous with the mother ship.
The latter condition is mandatory and no point is assigned for the asteroids reached by a
probe that fails to return to the mother ship. Multiple rendezvous of the same asteroid
(by the same or another probe) do not provide additional points.
The performance index is therefore
J =
N
ast

i=1

i
(1)
where the summation is extended to all the N
ast
asteroids of the database
[Link] and
i
is 1 if at least one probe had rendezvous with asteroid
i, stayed with it for 30 days and then returned to the mother ship, and 0 otherwise.
Mother-ship rendezvous with an asteroid does not assign any point. However, if a probe
is released when the mother ship is in rendezvous conditions with an asteroid (same posi-
tion and velocity), the asteroid counts as rst rendezvous of the probe and one point can
be assigned (unless the asteroid has already been visited), provided stay and mother-ship
nal rendezvous conditions are satised by the probe. Note that each probe cannot be
released by the mother ship more than once and after it has returned to the mother ship
no other action by the probe is allowed.
The secondary performance index, in the case two or more teams have the same score
J, is the sum of the nal (i.e., after rendezvous with the mother ship) masses of the probes
J

=
3

j=1

j
(m
f
)
Pj
(2)
3
where P1, P2, P3 refer to the three probes and subscript f corresponds to the nal time;

j
is 1 if the probe has returned to the mother ship (or has not been released) and 0
otherwise. If a probe is not released by the mother ship it obviously does not contribute
to increase J but the full 2000 kg contribute to J.
Dynamical Models
The Earth and asteroids are assumed to follow Keplerian (conic) orbits around the Sun.
The only forces acting on the spacecraft are the Suns gravity and, when on, the thrust
from the propulsion system. The Earths Keplerian orbital parameters are provided in
Table 1. The asteroids Keplerian orbital parameters are provided in the ASCII le
[Link], which provides 1) asteroid GTOC7 identication number, 2) epoch,
in modied Julian date, 3) semimajor axis in AU, 4) eccentricity, 5) inclination in degrees,
6) argument of periapsis in degrees, 7) longitude of the ascending node in degrees, 7) mean
anomaly at epoch in degrees, 9) asteroid name. Earths and asteroids orbital elements are
expressed in the J2000 heliocentric ecliptic frame. The elements are taken from the public,
small-body database maintained by JPL and accessible at [Link] Since
orbital elements are periodically checked and modied, the ocial asteroid elements for
this problem are those provided in the le [Link]. Other required constants
are shown in Table 2.
Table 1: Earths orbital elements in the J2000 heliocentric ecliptic reference frame.
semimajor axis a, AU 0.999988049532578
eccentricity e 1.671681163160 10
2
inclination i, deg. 0.8854353079654 10
3
longitude of ascending node , deg. 175.40647696473
Argument of periapsis , deg. 287.61577546182
Mean anomaly at epoch M, deg. 257.60683707535
Epoch t, MJD 54000
Table 2: Constants and conversion.
Suns gravitational parameter
S
, km
3
/s
2
1.32712440018 10
11
Astronomical Unit AU, km 1.49597870691 10
8
Standard acceleration due to gravity, g
0
, m/s
2
9.80665
Day, s 86400
Year, days 365.25
01 January 2021 00:00 UT, MJD 59215
31 December 2030 24:00 UT, MJD 62867
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Solution Format
Each team should return its best solution by email to [Link]@[Link] on or
before June 17, 2014, 18:00 UT (20:00 CET). Five les must be returned. The rst le
(PDF format is preferred) should contain:
a brief description of the methods used,
a summary of the best trajectory found with, at least: mother ship launch date,
launch v

, dates of probe release, GTOC7 numbers of the asteroids visited by each

probe, dates of probe nal rendezvous with the mother ship, probe and mother ship
nal masses, and value of the performance indexes (primary and secondary).
a visual representation of the trajectories, such as a projection of the trajectory onto
the ecliptic plane.
The other les, which will be used to verify the solution, must provide the trajectories
of mother ship and probes and should be named [Link], [Link], [Link], and [Link].
They must follow the format and units provided in the ASCII template les [Link]
and [Link]. The coordinate frame must be the J2000 heliocentric ecliptic frame.
The mother ship follows Keplerian dynamics and its trajectory can be easily recon-
structed. The le should provide position, velocity and mass at times when specic events
(departure from Earth, impulses, probe release and rendezvous) occur.
Probe trajectory data are required at one-day increments for each inter-body phase of
the trajectory, providing position, velocity, mass and thrust components. The rst time
point for each phase should correspond with body (mother ship or asteroid) departure;
the second time point should be one day thence, and so on. If arrival at an asteroid or
mother ship does not fall on a one-day increment, then the last time point for the phase
should be reported using a partial-day increment from the previous time point. Partial
day increments must also be used to highlight times when the engine is switched on or
o.
Appendix
This appendix provides a set of equations describing the dynamics of this problem along
with other background information.
Nomenclature
Orbital elements and related quantities
a = semimajor axis
e = eccentricity
i = inclination
= longitude of ascending node
= argument of periapsis
M = mean anomaly at epoch
= true anomaly
5
E = eccentric anomaly
r = distance from the Sun
= ight path angle

S
= Suns gravitational parameter
Position and velocity
r = position vector
v = velocity vector
x, y, z = position components in J2000 heliocentric ecliptic frame
v
x
, v
y
, v
z
= velocity components in J2000 heliocentric ecliptic frame
Departure
v

= hyperbolic excess velocity vector

v

= hyperbolic excess velocity magnitude

Other quantities
t = time
m = mass
I
sp
= specic impulse
T = thrust
g
0
= standard acceleration due to gravity at Earths surface
J = primary performance index
J

= secondary performance index

Subscripts and superscripts
0 = at epoch
i = initial value
= just before event
+ = just after event
f = nal value
E = Earth
M = mother ship
Ai = i-th asteroid
P1, P2, P3 = rst, second and third probe
max = maximum value
min = minimum value

() = time derivative
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Problem dynamics and conversion between elements
The motion of Earth, asteroids and mother ship around Sun is governed by the two-body
problem equations:
x =
S
x
r
3
y =
S
y
r
3
z =
S
z
r
3
where
r =

x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
=
a(1 e
2
)
1 + e cos
The motion of the spacecraft around the Sun is governed by the same formulas but with
the addition of the x, y, z components of the thrust acceleration and an equation for the
mass:
x =
S
x
r
3
+
T
x
m
y =
S
y
r
3
+
T
y
m
z =
S
z
r
3
+
T
z
m
m =
T
g
0
(I
sp
)
EP
The thrust magnitude is constrained
0 T =

T
2
x
+ T
2
y
+ T
2
z
0.3 N
Conversion from orbit elements to Cartesian quantities is as follows
x = r[cos( + ) cos sin( + ) cos i sin ]
y = r[cos( + ) sin + sin( + ) cos i cos ]
z = r[sin( + ) sin i]
v
x
= v[sin( + ) cos cos( + ) cos i sin ]
v
y
= v[sin( + ) sin + cos( + ) cos i cos ]
v
z
= v[cos( + ) sin i]
where the velocity magnitude v and the ight path angle are
v =

2
S
r


S
a
tan =
e sin
1 + e cos
For an elliptic orbit the true anomaly is related to the eccentric anomaly by
tan
E
2
=

1 e
1 + e
tan

2
and the eccentric anomaly is related to the mean anomaly by Keplers equation,
M = E e sin E,
while the mean anomaly is related to time and the mean anomaly M
0
at epoch t
0
by
M M
0
=

S
a
3
(t t
0
)
Thus, based on the provided orbital parameters, the Cartesian positions and velocities
of the Earth and asteroids may be computed as a function of time with only the minor
nuisance of having to solve Keplers equation for E by some iterative procedure. The
same is true for the mother ship motion between impulses. This means that for the
Earth, the asteroids, and a non-thrusting spacecraft, the equations of motion do not need
to be numerically integrated to nd position and velocity at some given time.
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Earth departure
Mother ship launch occurs at time t
i
with hyperbolic excess velocity v

. The spacecraft
position, velocity and mass are
(r
i
)
M
= r
E
(t
i
) (v
i
)
M
= v
E
(t
i
) +v

(m
i
)
M
= 24000 kg
with the constraints
|v

| 6 km/s 59215 MJD t

i
62867 MJD
Probe release and rendezvous
At each instantaneous probe release and rendezvous the mother ship and probe position
and velocity are the same. Position and velocity do not change but the mother ship mass
is discontinuous: at release of probe Pj (j = 1, ...3)
(m
+
)
M
(m

)
M
= 2000 kg
(m
i
)
Pj
= 2000 kg
and at rendezvous between probe Pj and mother ship
(m
+
)
M
(m

)
M
= (m
f
)
Pj
Impulses
At impulses, position is constant. The required propellant mass is expressed as a function
of the magnitude of the velocity change through Tsiolkowskys equation
V = |(V
+
)
M
(V

)
M
|
(m
+
)
M
= (m

)
M
exp

V
g
0
(I
sp
)
NTR

Asteroid rendezvous and departure

Rendezvous occurs at time t
rv
when the probe Pj matches the position and velocity of
the asteroid Ai
r
Pj
= r
Ai
(t
rv
) v
Pj
= v
Ai
(t
rv
)
Departure from asteroid Ai occurs at time t
de
with the same conditions
r
Pj
= r
Ai
(t
de
) v
Pj
= v
Ai
(t
de
)
The stay time constraint is expressed as
t
de
t
rv
30 days
8
Time and mass constraints
The overall mission time-length is constrained
max(t
f
)
Pj
t
i
12 years
The trip time of each probe is also constrained
(t
f
)
Pj
(t
i
)
Pj
6 years
Final masses are constrained
(m
f
)
M

3

j=1
(m
f
)
Pj
6000 kg
(m
f
)
Pj
800 kg
The constraints on position and velocity must be satised with accuracy of at least
1000 km and 1 m/s, respectively (these numbers are for the euclidean norm of the vector
dierences).
9