Multiple small-satellite salvage mission sequence planning for debris mitigation

A new and efficient method, using a heuristic optimization algorithm, is presented to find the minimal propellant consumption solution for multiple dys-functional-satellite salvage mission sequence planning. The two-burn impulsive maneuver strategy is applied to simulate the transfer of the spacecraft. A space station serves as the refueling station of the spacecraft and the collection center for the dysfunctional satellites. An improved version of a genetic algorithm (GA) is applied to determine the optimal visiting sequence of the target satellites by minimizing the propellant consumption of the servicing spacecraft which transports all the satellites to the maintenance station. The transfer between two targets is represented by a simple model that contains only the planar changes and orbital maneuvers. The validity of this method has been proved for different types of orbits, and their corresponding propellant consumption is provided.