General Overview
HILTOP is a low-thrust trajectory optimization program that is built upon a heritage spanning three decades. Its impressive history includes numerous mission studies for various NASA centers to investigate low-thrust missions to all the planets as well as to many asteroids and comets. It was used to perform the mission analyses for the Solar Electric Propulsion Stage study in 1980 where, for the first time, the effect of the optimal operation of individual thrusters on mission performance was investigated. It was also used to assess the potential role of electric propulsion for manned Mars missions for the Space Exploration Initiative of 1990. And it was employed to investigate the solar electric propulsion options for the MESSENGER mission in 1995.
HILTOP is a companion of the respected MAnEtm (Mission Analysis Environment) software system by the same author. HILTOP is designed for compatibility with several of the utility programs provided in MAnE and employs the same models and data for the ephemeredes of the planets, asteroids and comets. It employs a two-body formulation that includes a full implementation of the Calculus of Variations.
Accompanying the software is an up-to-date User Guide that includes a description of the formulation and mathematical model, program options, input parameters, reports, graphical representation of trajectory solutions, and numerous example cases. HILTOP is being offered for the first time to the space exploration community for licensing under terms that include ongoing product support and version upgrades.