APPLICATIONS OF DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING TO SPACE GUIDANCE, SATELLITES, AND TRAJECTORIES

Abstract

The feasibility of space travel and man-made satellites has triggered a rash of interest in the determination of optimal trajectories and generally in guidance and control processes. These problems, for so long of purely mathematical and astronomical concern, have now become part of the engineering domain. The result is that there is a great demand for feasible numerical solutions of the associated analytic problems. Many of these are classically of great difficulty. As a result of the intensive study of these questions, it is now well appreciated that the classical techniques of the calculus of variations are inoperative unless the problem is rather carefully selected. The applicability is shown of a new mathematical technique, based on the theory of dynamic programming, to the computational solution of trajectory problems. Many problems, seemingly inaccessible to the conventional methods of the calculus of variations, have already been resolved.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 07, 1961
Accession Number
AD0616572

Entities

People

  • Richard E. Bellman
  • Robert E. Kalaba
  • Stuart Dreyfus

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artificial Satellites
  • Calculus
  • Calculus Of Variations
  • Computational Processes
  • Computer Programming
  • Computers
  • Differential Equations
  • Dynamic Programming
  • Engineering
  • Equations
  • Euler Equations
  • Guidance
  • Information Theory
  • Mathematics
  • Partial Differential Equations
  • Trajectories

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Educational Psychology
  • Theoretical Analysis.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Spacecraft Maneuvers