Simultaneously determining the mix of space launch vehicles and the assignment of satellites to rockets

The manifest problem is faced by aerospace firms that produce launch vehicles to shoot satellites into space. The demand for satellites has increased dramatically over the past decade, as both commercial and military applications have grown. Launch vehicles can be built in different sizes, and launch vehicles of a given type have known capacity, cost a known amount to launch, and may be limited in the number or mix of satellites that can be carried into space. Similarly, available satellites can be of different types, and satellites of a given type consume a known amount of a launch vehicle’s payload capacity. Given a commitment to shoot a known number of each type of satellite into space over a finite horizon, the objective is to determine the mix of launch vehicles to produce, as well as the assignment of individual satellites to launch vehicles, such that the firm’s total cost is minimized. We formulate the launch vehicle manifest problem, and develop and computationally test solution approaches for the problem. Possible applications of the problem and further extensions are discussed.