Since the cost of a space mission increases nearly exponentially with the required propellant mass, it is necessary to design a mission in which the sum of the magnitudes of all the velocity changes is the minimum. This chapter discusses how such optimum impulsive manoeuvres can be designed. The simplest impulsive manoeuvre is the case of intersecting initial and final trajectories, where a single velocity impulse is sufficient to produce a velocity change at a given orbital position. A general single‐impulse manoeuvre involves a change in both the shape and the plane of the orbit. When the initial and final orbits do not intersect, the orbital transfer cannot be made by a single impulse; hence a multi‐impulse manoeuvre becomes necessary. The chapter presents the analysis of some simple continuous thrust manoeuvres.
Orbital Manoeuvres
Foundations of Space Dynamics ; 117-143
2021-02-01
27 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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