Non-coplanar circular orbital transfers based on the invariability of descending nodical local time is studied in this paper. Based on minimum principle, both of the thrust direction and magnitude are optimized, regarding minimum total impulse and final position and velocity constraints as the performance index on the assumption of fixed transfer time and continuous thrust. The optimal transfer orbit is then obtained using conjugate gradient method. As transfer time is given, a special initial condition for orbital transfers is determined, which ensures the invariability of descending nodical local time. The validity of orbital transfer strategy adopted has been verified by simulation results.

Date Published: 10 November 2007
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 6795, Second International Conference on Space Information Technology, 67953B (10 November 2007); doi: 10.1117/12.774016

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6795:
Second International Conference on Space Information Technology
Cheng Wang; Shan Zhong; Jiaolong Wei, Editor(s)