/gravity-assist-flyby-optimizer

Simulator and solver to generate multi-flyby gravity assist mission trajectories to various bodies in the solar system.

Primary LanguagePythonGNU General Public License v3.0GPL-3.0

Gravity Assist Flyby Optimizer

This is a personal project about determining optimal gravity-assist based flyby trajectories for interplanetary missions. The goal is to determine the optimal trajectory for a spacecraft to fly from one planet to another using the least amount of fuel. The project is written in Python and is accelerated using C extensions. The project is currently in the early stages of development.

Components

Solar System Model

I built my own solar system model using planetary data from JPL Development Ephemerides (DE440). Below is a plot of the solar system model with the planets and their orbits. Solar System Plot Demo

You can run this example by running the following command: python -m flyby.visualizers.solar_system_plot

Time Integration of Spacecraft Dynamics

I modelled gravity from all major solar system bodies (8 planets + the Sun) acting on a spacecraft. The dynamic simulation is integrated using scipy.integrate.solve_ivp.