Orbital trim by velocity factoring with applications to the Viking mission.An orbital trim technique has been developed to satisfy terminal rendezvous and intermediate timing constraints for planetary missions involving orbital operations. The technique utilizes a time-open two-impulse transfer from a specified initial orbit to a final orbit which satisfies all geometrical constraints. Each of the two impulses may then be factored, or split, into two or more vectorially equivalent impulses. The periods of the resulting intermediate orbits may be varied along with the number of revolutions in each orbit to satisfy the intermediate and final timing constraints. Factors in the range 0 to 1 result in rendezvous at the same cost as that of the two-impulse transfer. The technique is applied to the Viking mission to Mars although a similar procedure could be utilized for rendezvous operations about any planet.
Document ID
19720048513
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Authors
Kibler, J. F.
Green, R. N.
Young, G. R. (NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, Va., United States)
Date Acquired
August 6, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1972
Subject Category
Navigation
Meeting Information
Meeting: The growth and maturity of navigation in space; National Space Meeting