Application of routing problems to space exploration missions

While the routing problem has been widely used in terrestrial logistics, it can also be used to address the logistics problems associated with space missions. This paper introduces the routing problems applied to two challenging space exploration missions: planetary surface exploration and multi-target rendezvous. The routing problem for planetary surface exploration modifies the model assessing the value of visiting potential exploration sites by considering multiple stakeholders and positive/negative synergies associated with pairs of sites while maintaining the basic network structure of terrestrial routing. The routing for multi-target rendezvous reflects the characteristic of space logistics that the nodes (i.e., target bodies) are moving, and the cost associated with an arc between two nodes (i.e., time/fuel required for traveling) are time-varying.