Optimization of planning the experiments to be carried out onboard orbital stations

The technique and algorithms for optimization of planning the program of experiments carried out onboard an orbiting spacecraft are described taking into account the execution of service operations. A general approach to optimization of planning the experiments is used, developed for investigations onboard the Salyut and Mir space stations, and on the International Space Station (ISS). The approach is based on formalization of the problem in the form of an integer linear programming problem. In this approach, the spacecraft orbit is considered to be known, and the optimization of the planning of experiments is reduced to composing the optimum sequence of zones for the performance of experiments. The list of experiments, service operations, and tasks to be solved during the planning interval are assumed to be specified.