[论文解读] Towards End-To-End Design of Spacecraft Swarms for Small-Body Reconnaissance

Ravi Teja Nallapu, Jekan Thangavelautham|arXiv (Cornell University)|Oct 9, 2019

Astro and Planetary Science参考文献 9被引用 7

一句话总结

本文介绍了IDEAS软件框架，特别是其自动化集群设计模块，以实现针对行星卫星的端到端任务设计。该框架将先前针对小行星测绘的集群设计扩展至应对小天体引力球较小、潮汐锁定及光照有限等挑战，证明通过自动化、任务定制化的协同设计，可实现对小天体表面的全面覆盖。

ABSTRACT

The exploration of small bodies in the Solar System is a high priority planetary science. Asteroids, comets, and planetary moons yield important information about the evolution of the Solar System. Additionally, they could provide resources for a future space economy. While much research has gone into exploring asteroids and comets, dedicated spacecraft missions to planetary moons are few and far between. There are three fundamental challenges of a spacecraft mission to the planetary moons: The first challenge is that the spheres of influence of most moons (except that of Earth) are small and, in many cases, virtually absent. The second is that many moons are tidally locked to their planets, which means that an observer on the planet will have an entire hemisphere, which is always inaccessible. The third challenge is that at a given time about half of the region will be in the Sun's shadow. Therefore, a single spacecraft mission to observe the planetary moon cannot provide complete coverage. Such a complex task can be solved using a swarm approach, where the mapping task is delegated to multiple low-cost spacecraft. Clearly, the design of a swarm mission for such a dynamic environment is challenging. For this reason, we have proposed the Integrated Design Engineering & Automation of Swarms (IDEAS) software to perform automated end-to-end design of swarm missions. Specifically, it will use a sub-module known as the Automated Swarm Designer module to find optimal swarm configurations suited for a given mission. In our previous work, we have developed the Automated Swarm Design module to find swarm configurations for asteroid mapping operations. In this work, we will evaluate the capability of the Automated Swarm module to design missions to planetary moons.

研究动机与目标

• 解决尽管行星卫星具有科学与资源潜力，却缺乏专门探测任务的问题。
• 识别并克服三大核心挑战：小引力球、潮汐锁定及光照有限。
• 将自动化集群设计模块从先前的小行星测绘扩展至行星卫星任务。
• 通过集成软件自动化，实现低成本、高覆盖度的集群任务端到端设计。
• 验证基于集群的侦察在实现小行星天体完整表面测绘方面的可行性。

提出的方法

• IDEAS框架将任务级设计与自主集群配置合成相结合，采用专用的自动化集群设计模块。
• 该模块在多目标优化框架内，应用任务特定约束（如轨道动力学、光照条件与可见性）进行优化。
• 通过建模行星卫星的动态环境（包括潮汐锁定与阴影区域），指导集群部署。
• 系统采用参数化方式表示集群配置，优化覆盖范围、通信能力与燃料效率。
• 借鉴先前的小行星集群设计工作，并将其适配于行星卫星轨道的独特动力学特性。
• 该框架支持迭代式、自动化的最优集群架构生成，以匹配任务目标。

实验结果

研究问题

• RQ1 自动化设计框架能否为行星卫星侦察任务生成可行的集群配置？
• RQ2 如潮汐锁定与阴影等环境约束，如何影响所需集群规模与配置？
• RQ3 自动化集群设计模块在小行星测绘成功的基础上，能在多大程度上拓展至行星卫星任务？
• RQ4 在基于集群的月球任务中，覆盖完整性、通信范围与燃料效率之间存在何种权衡？
• RQ5 端到端设计流程如何确保对多样化小天体目标的鲁棒性与可扩展性？

主要发现

• 自动化集群设计模块成功为行星卫星任务生成了可行的集群配置，证明其在小行星测绘之外的适应能力。
• 框架识别出，必须动态调整集群规模与编队几何，以应对因潮汐锁定导致的持续阴影区与可见性受限问题。
• 通过战略性地布置航天器以利用短暂的视线机会，最优集群配置实现了近乎完整的表面覆盖。
• 该方法通过将测绘任务分配给多个低成本平台，降低了对单一航天器的依赖，提升了任务鲁棒性。
• 在设计流程中整合环境约束，显著提升了生成集群架构的现实性与可行性。
• 结果证实，端到端自动化设计在复杂、动态的小天体任务中具有可行性，可实现大规模任务规划。