This study compares two successive convexification formulations in powered descent guidance, revealing their impact on fuel efficiency and trajectory design.
This paper presents a comparative study of two Successive Convexification (SCvx) formulations with free final time for the powered descent guidance (PDG) of Falcon 9’s first stage. SCvx solves non-convex trajectory problems by linearizing dynamics and constraints, then solving convex subproblems via CVX in MATLAB. Two cost functions are investigated—maximizing final mass and minimizing total thrust both aiming to reduce fuel use. The 3 degrees of freedom (3-DoF) model includes realistic constraints such as thrust bounds, gimbal limits, glide slope, vertical landing and a novel implementation of vertical thrust rate constraint into a variable time problem. Simulations reveal how cost function choice affects fuel efficiency and trajectory design.
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DRAGAN et al. (2025) studied this question.
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