Optimal planning for a multi-debris active removal mission with a partial debris capture strategy
Jia Guo, Zhaojun Pang, Zhonghua DU
Abstract
In this paper, a new mission model, called a multi-debris active removal mission with partial debris capture strategy, is proposed. The model assumes that a platform only captures part of the scheduled debris at a time and then releases these debris pieces to a disposal orbit. This process is then repeated until all of the scheduled debris is removed. A genetic algorithm with a multi-parameter concatenated coding method is designed to optimize the plan of a multi-debris active removal mission with a partial debris capture strategy. A set of six pieces of debris and a set of 10 pieces of debris are selected to demonstrate the proposed planning method. The result confirms the effectiveness of the genetic algorithm with the multi-parameter concatenated coding method. The new mission model provides a more comprehensive decision-making framework than the existing mission models and makes it possible to further decrease mission costs.