Optimal low-thrust, Earth-Moon trajectories

Details Optimal low-thrust, Earth-Moon trajectories Optimal low-thrust, Earth-Moon trajectories

Jan 1993

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1993phdt........26k&link_type=abstract

Ph.D. Thesis Iowa State Univ. of Science and Technology, Ames.

Computer Science

Earth-Moon Trajectories, Fuel Consumption, Optimal Control, Parking Orbits, Three Body Problem, Trajectory Analysis, Trajectory Control, Trajectory Optimization, Nuclear Electric Propulsion, Rocket Thrust

Scientific paper

A variety of optimal trajectories from a circular low-Earth parking orbit to a circular low-lunar parking orbit are computed for a range of low-thrust spacecraft. The problem is studied in the context of the classical restricted three-body problem. Minimum-fuel, planar trajectories with a fixed thrust-coast-thrust engine sequence are computed for both a 'high-end' low-thrust spacecraft and 'moderate' low-thrust nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) spacecraft. Since a low-thrust trajectory is a long duration transfer with slowly developing spirals about the Earth and Moon, the minimum-fuel Earth-Moon trajectory is obtained by formulating and successively solving a hierarchy of subproblems. The subproblems include optimal Earth-escape and Moon-capture trajectories and sub-optimal translunar trajectories. The complete minimum-fuel trajectory problem is eventually solved using a 'hybrid' direct/indirect method which utilizes the benefits of a direct optimization method and an indirect method from optimal control theory. Minimum-fuel transfers are also computed using a switching function structure which results in multiple thrust and coast arcs. In addition, a new combined vehicle and trajectory optimization problem of maximum payload fraction is formulated and solved. Finally, 3-D minimum-fuel trajectories are obtained for both the 'high-end' and 'moderate' low-thrust spacecraft. Numerical results are presented for various optimal Earth-Moon trajectories.

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