Premium
On‐orbit servicing: a time‐dependent, moving‐target traveling salesman problem
Author(s) -
Bourjolly JeanMarie,
Gurtuna Ozgur,
Lyngvi Aleksander
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
international transactions in operational research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.032
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1475-3995
pISSN - 0969-6016
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-3995.2006.00558.x
Subject(s) - spacecraft , spare part , travelling salesman problem , consumables , computer science , orbit (dynamics) , real time computing , aerospace engineering , simulation , operations management , algorithm , engineering , business , marketing
The robotic capability of maintaining and repairing space assets, on‐orbit servicing (OOS), has the potential to change the way spacecraft are designed, manufactured and operated. The most common OOS mission concept envisions an orbital “depot”, where consumables and spare parts for spacecraft will be stored. A “servicing platform”, based at this depot, will be used to service a number of client spacecraft and then return to the depot for resupply. We model OOS as a time‐dependent, moving‐target traveling salesman problem and present an algorithm for minimizing the total amount of energy or time required for OOS operations.