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Low-thrust Orbit Transfers Using Candidate Lyapunov Functions with a Mechanism for CoastingWe consider low-thrust orbit transfers around a central body, where specified changes are sought in orbit elements except true anomaly. The desired changes in the remaining five elements can be arbitrarily large. Candidate Lyapunov functions are created based on analytic expressions for maximum rates of change of the orbit elements and the desired changes in the elements. These functions may be thought of as proximity quotients because they provide R measure of the proximity to the target orbit. The direction of thrust needed for steepest descent to the target orbit is also available analytically. The thrust is shutoff if the effectivity of the thrust at the current location on the osculating orbit is below some threshhold value. Thus, the equations of motion can be numerically integrated to obtain quickly and simply a transfer to the target orbit. A series of transfers can be easily computed to assess the trade-off between propellant mass and flight time. Preliminary comparisons to optimal solutions show that the method, while sub-optimal, performs well.
Document ID
20070024819
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Petropoulos, Anastassios E.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
August 19, 2004
Subject Category
Astrodynamics
Meeting Information
Meeting: AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialst Conference and Exhibit
Location: Providence, RI
Country: United States
Start Date: August 16, 2004
End Date: August 19, 2004
Sponsors: American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, American Astronomical Society
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Candidate Lyapunoc functions
analytic expressions

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