Hierarchical approach for fast searching optimal launch opportunity in a wide range

Launch opportunity search is crucial for preliminary design of interplanetary trajectories. However, it is difficult to obtain the optimum solution efficiently when the range of search is wide. In this paper, a new fast search algorithm based on a modified hierarchical approach is proposed. At the top level, a simplified Pork-Chop diagram is plotted by sampling interpolation to delimit the candidate regions of the optimal solution. Each candidate region contains only one optimal solution, which fundamentally avoids the local optimal problem of genetic algorithms. At the bottom level, a hybrid optimization approach combining the genetic algorithm and the conjugate directions method is used to solve the accurate optimal solution of each candidate region and obtain the global optimal launch opportunity in the whole wide range of search. Simulation results show that the proposed hierarchical approach can quickly and robustly find the global optimal launch opportunity in a wide search space.