This paper addresses the critical problem of co-optimizing the optimal locations for orbital depots and the sequence of in-space servicing for a satellite constellation. While most traditional studies used network optimization for this problem, assuming a fixed set of discretized nodes in the network (i.e., a limited number of depot location candidates), this work is unique in that it develops a method to optimize the depot location in continuous space. The problem is formulated as mixed-integer nonlinear programming, and we propose a solution methodology that iteratively solves two decoupled problems: one using mixed-integer linear programming and the other using nonlinear programming with an analytic transfer solution. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, we apply this methodology to a case study involving a GPS satellite constellation. Numerical experiments confirm the stability of our proposed solutions.


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    Title :

    Orbital Depot Location Optimization for Satellite Constellation Servicing with Low-Thrust Transfers


    Contributors:
    Choi, Euihyeon (author) / Ho, Koki (author)


    Publication date :

    2025-05-01




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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