Optimal Control with Aerospace Applications

Acknowledgments.- Preface.- Chapter One: Parameter Optimization.- Chapter Two: Optimal Control Theory.- Chapter Three: The Euler-Lagrange Theorem.- Chapter Four: Application of the Euler-Lagrange Theorem.- Chapter Five: The Weierstrass Condition.- Chapter Six: The Minimum Principle.- Chapter Seven: Some Applications.- Chapter Eight: Weierstrass-Erdmann Corner Conditions.- Chapter Nine: Bounded Control Problems.- Chapter Ten: General Theory of Optimal Rocket Trajectories.- Appendices.- Bibliography.

Professor Longuski has published over 200 conference and journal articles in the area of astrodynamics on topics that involve designing spacecraft trajectories that explore the Solar System and a new idea to test Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. He also coauthored several papers with Dr. Buzz Aldrin on a human Earth-to-Mars transportation system, known as the "Aldrin Cycler." He has published two other books, Advice to Rocket Scientists (AIAA, 2004) and The Seven Secrets of How to Think Like a Rocket Scientist (Springer, 2007). In 2008 Professor Longuski was inducted into Purdue University's Book of Great Teachers.

Dr.  José J .Guzmán obtained his Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering BS, MS, and PhD degrees from Purdue University. He joined a.i. solutions in 2001 and was a member of NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) trajectory design and maneuver team. From 2004 to 2009 Dr. Guzmán was a senior member of the technical staff at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL).  At APL he worked on the trajectory design and analysis team for the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) mission. He was a coauthor on a paper, "STEREO Trajectory and Maneuver Design," which won the 2009 Walter G. Berl Award for Outstanding Paper in the APL Technical Digest. Dr. Guzmán is currently a principal senior engineer at Orbital Sciences, where he has been working on the mission design and planning for cargo missions to the International Space Station. He is a member of the American Astronautical Society and a senior member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Dr. Guzmán has served as a lecturer at The Johns Hopkins University and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Professor John Prussing received his SB, SM, and ScD degrees in aerospace engineering from MIT, culminating in his 1967 doctoral thesis, "Optimal Multiple-Impulse Orbital Rendezvous." He accepted a postdoctoral position

From the book reviews:

"The book provides an accessible and comprehensive exposition and introduction to methods of optimal control and their use in aerospace applications. It is oriented towards those who are beginning their study of optimal control, those who are interested in exploiting optimal control theory to treat specific problems arising in applications, in general, and to practitioners in the area of aerospace engineering, in particular." (Ilya Kolmanovsky, Mathematical Reviews, November, 2014)

"This textbook addresses applications of the calculus of variations to aerospace problems. ... This text should be useful to graduate students in aerospace engineering. The book is equipped with several Matlab codes in the appendices." (Alexander Mikhailovich Kovalev, zbMATH, Vol. 1297, 2014)