Optimal Aircraft Rerouting during Space Launches using Adaptive Spatial Discretization

To ensure safety during space launches, the Federal Aviation Administration restricts a column of airspace around the launch location and anticipated trajectory. These restrictions are often in place for hours at a time and lead to many rerouted aircraft. Recent research has focused on making these restrictions dynamic and constraining their volume. Previously, the problem was framed as a Markov decision process and solved using dynamic programming. A major challenge with this prior formulation is its computational tractability, and its application required a relatively course spatial discretization. This paper presents an, adaptive spatial discretization method, that provides a finer discretization in the spatial regions where an aircraft may need to start rerouting. This scalable method results in less disruption in the airspace while reducing risk.