The European Space Agency Tender

To Improve The Current Thruster Accommodation Approach Towards An Optimization Process That Accounts For Command And Control Algorithm Requirements, Physical Constraints, And Failure Tolerance.descriptionthe Spacecraft Propulsion Layout For A Given Mission Determines The Resulting Available Control Authority As Well As Fuel Consumption Efficiency. Current Practices Of Thruster Configuration Design Include A Large Amount Of Iterations To Ensure That The Thrusters Layout Can Be Accommodated Considering Multi-disciplinaryissues Such As Plume Impingement, Structural And Thermal Issues, Contamination Of Sensitive Equipment, Thruster Performances, Constraints From Minimum Impulse Bit (mib) Effects, Actuation Period, Modulation Etc. Many Of Those Artifacts Are Only Dealt With Late Ina Project, Leading To Cost And Schedule Overruns As Well As An Inefficiencies On The Gnc System For The Mission.thruster Architecture Optimization Is A Complete Subject Addressing Theoretical Aspects As Well As System Level Considerations, Which Have To Be Considered To Incorporate Mission And Subsystem Constraints And Requirements. This Leads To A Nonlinear Multi-dimensional And Multi-disciplinary Optimization Problem.a Multi-objective Optimization Of The Propulsion Layout Under All The Relevant Constraints Aims To Ensure To Obtain Maximum 6 Degrees Of Freedom Controllability, Minimum Possible Fuel Consumption For The Mission, And The Possibility Of A Fault Tolerant Actuation System.this Activity Encompasses The Following Tasks:- Review Of The Current Practice In Location Andorientation Of Thrusters Under Bounded Constraints.- Definition (in Cooperation With All Involved Disciplines) Of The Key Drivers And Constraints Applicable To The Thruster Layout Definition Problem (e.g. Thermal And Plume Impingement Constraints, Control Constraints) And Formulate The Optimization Problem To Be Dealt With.- Development Of A Solution In The Form Of An Optimization Procedureunder Constraints, To Produce A General Framework For Any Spacecraft That Can Capture All The Multi-disciplinary Boundary Constraints And Solve The Nonlinear Constrained Optimization Problem Using Hybrid Optimization Techniques. The Fault Tolerant Control Problemshall Be Considered As A Constraint In The Optimization.- Definition And Use Of A Number Of Reference Spacecraft Configurations, That Are Sufficiently Complex, As Test Cases For The Optimization Procedure. Test The Procedure With These Test Cases And Compare Theresults To Available Existing Configurations Resulting From The Traditional Design Process.