OPTIMUM EARTH-TO-MARS ROUNDTRIP TRAJECTORIES UTILIZING A LOW-THRUST POWER-LIMITED PROPULSION SYSTEM
Payload capabilities of vehicle containing low- thrust power-limited propulsion system for earth- to-mars roundtrip mission
PAYLOAD↗
Engineering topics
Melbourne, W. G.
Publications and source records attributed to Melbourne, W. G..
CONSTANT ATTITUDE THRUST PROGRAM OPTIMIZATION
Optimization of space vehicle thrust program with prespecified thrust directions - flight mechanics
SPACE VEHICLE↗
OPTIMUM INTERPLANETARY RENDEZVOUS WITH POWER-LIMITED VEHICLES
Optimum interplanetary rendezvous with power limited vehicles
SPACE FLIGHT↗
PAYLOAD OPTIMIZATION FOR POWER-LIMITED VEHICLES
Optimization of propulsion system and trajectory parameters of a power-limited space vehicle to achieve maximum payload with application to earth-mars rendezvous missions
LOW THRUST PROPULSION↗
PAYLOAD OPTIMIZATION FOR POWER-LIMITED VEHICLES
Payload optimization for power-limited vehicles
SPACE VEHICLE↗
Interplanetary Trajectory Optimization with Powerlimited Propulsion Systems
A trajectory-optimization process is described in which the optimum thrust equations are derived using the calculus of variations. The magnitude of the thrust is constrained within an upper and a lower bound, but the thrust direction is arbitrary. This formulation allows both the constant-thrust program and the variable-thrust program to be considered. For the constant-thrust program, certain propulsion-system parameters are optimized for maximum final vehicle mass. This theory has been used to study interplanetary missions to Venus and Mars using a power-limited propulsion system. Both one-way and round trip rendezvous trajectories are considered. The analysis employs a two-body inverse-square force-field model of three dimensions. An iterative routine used to solve the two-point boundary-value problem is described in the Appendix.
TRAJECTORY↗