Settling the Galaxy (ACT’s entry to GTOCX)

This is a visualization of the ESA-ACT team entry to the 2019 edition of the Global Trajectory Optimization Competition, where ACT finished third. The ESA-ACT team members were: Dario Izzo, Marcus Märtens, Ekin Öztürk, Mate Kisantal, Konstantinos Konstantinidis, Luís F. Simões, Chit Hong Yam, Javier Hernando Ayuso. More information on the GTOCX competition: More information on all GTOC events: Description of the problem: “In about ten thousand years from the present, humanity will reset its counting of years to zero. Year Zero will be the year when humanity decides the time is ripe for the human race to boldly venture into the galaxy and settle other star systems. One hundred thousand star systems in the galaxy have been identified as being suitable for settlement. Even in this Year Zero, although technologies and knowledge have dramatically progressed, we are still subject to the tyranny of inertia and remain far from the near-i