Packing programming of space station spacewalk events based on bin packing theory and differential evolution algorithm

During orbital operations of the space station, several test missions require astronauts to conduct extravehicular activities. Because of the limitations of man-hours and resources such as extravehicular spacesuits, the overall programming of spacewalk events is a critical issue to address in operation mission planning for the space station. Based on the theory of bin packing, this paper establishes a new type of programming optimization model for spacewalk events and proposes optimization strategies based on the differential evolution (DE) algorithm. The optimization results from a planning test case that consists of 41 spacewalk events reveal a modified DE algorithm capable of obtaining the optimal programming scenario.