Condensed PIPG Sequential Convex Optimization for Reusable-Rocket Powered Landing with Strong Aerodynamics

Abstract

Reusable-rocket powered landing under strong aerodynamics couples variable mass, free final time, and bounded aerodynamic controls through nonlinear velocity-frame dynamics. This paper develops a condensed proportional--integral projected-gradient (PIPG) sequential-convex method whose principal contribution is an exact reduced-space inner architecture. Because the problem contains only six terminal hard equalities and no state path constraints, 217 nodal-state variables and 210 trapezoidal dynamics equalities are eliminated from the 31-node convex subproblem, leaving 101 primal variables and six terminal equalities. Row-orthogonal preconditioning, fixed-size matrix--vector products, and nodewise circular-epigraph projections then yield a customized PIPG kernel. Physical consistency of the angle-dependent axial force is maintained by gradually releasing drag sensitivity between the reference squared angle and an epigraph variable $A$, together with a convex tightness term. A pointwise Hamiltonian argument shows that the fully released limiting subproblem admits a tight optimum satisfying $A=α^2+β^2$. Deterministic annealing, two-stage inner accuracy, and a rejected-on-failure threefold extrapolation are secondary outer-loop accelerators.