Sensitivity considerations in trajectory optimization

A technique by which the trajectory optimization problem can be formulated to include the trajectory sensitivity functions in the performance index is presented. It is shown that an explicit steering law, which can be derived for the upper atmospheric flight of a vehicle, is a function of the sensitivity state, adjoint vectors, and the parameters of the chosen trajectory dynamics. The new steering law is compared with the one without sensitivity considerations. A computational method is presented to implement the new steering law.