Semi-Analytical Model for Autonomous Fuel-Optimal Low-Thrust Collision Avoidance with Eclipse Constraints

The evolution of Space Traffic Management is pushing interest towards autonomous operations. To answer the need of reliable and lightweight algorithms, a semianalytical approach for the design of fuel-optimal low-thrust collision avoidance manoeuvres is developed. The algorithm is based on the Sims-Flanagan transcription in combination with analytical State Transition Matrices. The driving requirements are computational efficiency, inclusion of eclipse constraints, and reliability in terms of algorithm convergence. The results obtained are compared with a high-fidelity algorithm, showing that the semi-analytical model is well-suited for on-board optimal autonomous operations.