Optimal Control for the Moon Lander: The Classical Problem and Variants

Filippo Gazzola () and Elsa M. Marchini ()
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Filippo Gazzola: Dipartimento di Matematica, Politecnico di Milano
Elsa M. Marchini: Dipartimento di Matematica, Politecnico di Milano

A chapter in New Trends and Challenges in Optimization Theory Applied to Space Engineering, 2025, pp 131-142 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract These notes concern a classical optimal control problem in aerospace engineering, how to land safely a spacecraft on the moon. Starting from an analysis of the original problem proposed by Miele (The calculus of variations in applied aerodynamics and flight mechanics, 1962), consisting in minimizing the consumption of fuel used for landing, we study a variant of the problem consisting in minimizing the landing time with a different thrust control. We prove that the optimal control (if it exists) is piecewise constant and provides the exact landing strategy, in dependence of the initial data (height, velocity, and fuel of the lander).

Keywords: Optimal control; Moon lander; Safe landing; Minimum time; 34H10; 49J15; 49K15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:spochp:978-3-031-81253-8_10

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-81253-8_10

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