A fast computational method for the landing footprints of space-to-ground vehicles

Fast computation of the landing footprint of a space-to-ground vehicle is a basic requirement for the deployment of parking orbits, as well as for enabling decision makers to develop real-time programs of transfer trajectories. In order to address the usually slow computational time for the determination of the landing footprint of a space-to-ground vehicle under finite thrust, this work proposes a method that uses polynomial equations to describe the boundaries of the landing footprint and uses back propagation(BP) neural networks to quickly determine the landing footprint of the space-to-ground vehicle. First, given orbital parameters and a manoeuvre moment, the solution model of the landing footprint of a space-to-ground vehicle under finite thrust is established. Second, given arbitrary orbital parameters and an arbitrary manoeuvre moment, a fast computational model for the landing footprint of a space-to-ground vehicle based on BP neural networks is provided.Finally, the simulation results demonstrate that under the premise of ensuring accuracy, the proposed method can quickly determine the landing footprint of a space-to-ground vehicle with arbitrary orbital parameters and arbitrary manoeuvre moments. The proposed fast computational method for determining a landing footprint lays a foundation for the parking-orbit configuration and supports the design of real-time transfer trajectories.