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Manuel Martinez-Sanchez. Whiting, James K., 1980- Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics 2005-06-02T18:51:44Z 2005-06-02T18:51:44Z 2004 2004 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/17835 56570155 Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2004. Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-87). Recent developments in astronautical engineering have led to the adoption of low thrust rocket engines for spacecraft. Optimizing the orbital transfers for low thrust engines is significantly more complicated than optimizing transfers for impulsive engines because a continuous control law must be found and long integrations are necessary to determine whether the control law works or not. Previous work on optimizing low thrust orbital transfers has led to the development of control laws for continuous thrusting including the effects of oblateness, multiple attracting bodies, eclipses, and solar cell degradation. The current work adds to this by developing control laws for optimal coasting and for variable specific impulse at constant power. The Hamiltonian method is used to develop the optimal control laws and physical interpretations are given to each term in the Hamiltonian. Application of the optimal coasting control law to transfers from LEO to GEO indicate that small amounts of coasting can significantly reduce the fuel needed for a transfer. by James K. Whiting. S.M. 87 p. 3434420 bytes 3442467 bytes application/pdf application/pdf eng Massachusetts Institute of Technology M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 Aeronautics and Astronautics. Orbital transfer trajectory optimization Thesis application/pdf false Publication unknown unknown <Publication xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/1.1/" id="b74c9932-bb76-407b-bfc1-381e6da24710"> <Type xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/vocab/COAR_Publication_Types">http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_1843</Type> <Language>eng</Language> <Title>Orbital transfer trajectory optimization</Title> <PublishedIn> <Publication> </Publication> </PublishedIn> <PublicationDate>2004</PublicationDate> <Authors> <Author> <DisplayName>Whiting, James K., 1980-</DisplayName> <Affiliation> <OrgUnit> </OrgUnit> </Affiliation> </Author> </Authors> <Editors> </Editors> <Publishers> <Publisher> <DisplayName>Massachusetts Institute of Technology</DisplayName> <OrgUnit /> </Publisher> </Publishers> <License>http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582</License> <Keyword>Aeronautics and Astronautics.</Keyword> <Abstract>Recent developments in astronautical engineering have led to the adoption of low thrust rocket engines for spacecraft. Optimizing the orbital transfers for low thrust engines is significantly more complicated than optimizing transfers for impulsive engines because a continuous control law must be found and long integrations are necessary to determine whether the control law works or not. Previous work on optimizing low thrust orbital transfers has led to the development of control laws for continuous thrusting including the effects of oblateness, multiple attracting bodies, eclipses, and solar cell degradation. The current work adds to this by developing control laws for optimal coasting and for variable specific impulse at constant power. The Hamiltonian method is used to develop the optimal control laws and physical interpretations are given to each term in the Hamiltonian. Application of the optimal coasting control law to transfers from LEO to GEO indicate that small amounts of coasting can significantly reduce the fuel needed for a transfer.</Abstract> <Access xmlns="http://purl.org/coar/access_right" > </Access> </Publication>