Low-Thrust Transfer Between Circular Orbits Using Natural Precession

TL;DR

This paper develops a method for optimizing low-thrust orbital transfers by incorporating natural precession effects, resulting in a three-phase transfer strategy with a shooting method for solution.

Contribution

It introduces a novel formulation combining Edelbaum's dynamics with nodal precession for minimum-fuel transfer optimization.

Findings

Optimal transfer consists of three sequences in the regular case.

A shooting method effectively solves the optimal control problem.

Inclusion of natural precession improves transfer efficiency.

Abstract

The minimum-fuel low-thrust transfer between circular orbits is formulated using the Edelbaum's averaged dynamics with the addition of the nodal precession due to the first zonal term. The extremal analysis shows that an optimal transfer is composed of three sequences in the regular case. The optimal control problem is solved by a shooting method with a costate guess derived from an approximate solution.