  Autonomous spacecraft maneuver planning using an evolutionary algorithmic
approach is investigated. Simulated spacecraft were placed into four different
initial orbits. Each was allowed a string of thirty delta-v impulse maneuvers
in six cartesian directions, the positive and negative x, y and z directions.
The goal of the spacecraft maneuver string was to, starting from some non-polar
starting orbit, place the spacecraft into a polar, low eccentricity orbit. A
genetic algorithm was implemented, using a mating, fitness, mutation and
crossover scheme for impulse strings. The genetic algorithm was successfully
able to produce this result for all the starting orbits. Performance and future
work is also discussed.
