title: A systematic-heuristic approach for space trajectory design.
abstract: In this paper a novel algorithm is proposed for space trajectory design that combines a systematic and a heuristic method for global optimization. For the systematic part of the algorithm a branching technique is used, whereas a particular implementation of evolution programming forms the core of the heuristic part. The idea is to use a limited population evolving for a small number of generations, according to specific evolution rules, in subregions of the solution space defined by a branching procedure. On the other hand the branching rules are functions of the outcome from the evolution optimization. The proposed combined systematic-heuristic global optimization performs quite well on the cases analyzed in this paper, suggesting the possibility of more complex applications.
authors.affiliation: European Space Research Technology Centre (ESA/ESTEC), Keplerlaan 1, 2200 AZ, Noordwijk ZH, The Netherlands. massimiliano.vasile@esa.int
authors.forename: Massimiliano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vasile