Optimal Finite-Thrust Spacecraft Trajectories Using Collocation and Nonlinear Programming Background Recently there has been great interest by NASA and the ESA in developing satellite constellations that will serve to act as interferometers for use in gravity wave detection. These satellite constellations would be composed of six satellites arranged in varying orbits such that they form an equilateral triangle with each triangle vertex containing two satellites at close proximity. Each vertex would send two laser signals …showed first 75 words of 1248 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1248 total…iscrete Approximations to Optimal Trajectories Using Direct Transcription and Nonlinear Programming," Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 15, No. 4, July-August 1992, pp. 994-1002. [3] Betts, J.T., and Huffman, W.P., "Application of Sparse Nonlinear Programming to Trajectory Optimization," Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 15, No. 1, January-February 1992, pp. 198-206. [4] Betts, J.T., and Huffman, W.P., "Path-Constrained Trajectory Optimization Using Sparse Sequential Quadratic Programming," Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 16, No. 1, January-February 1993, pp. 59-68.