Development of a Multipurpose Low Thrust Interplanetary Trajectory Calculation Code

Thumbnail Image
Files
AAS03-667_paper.pdf (318.44 KB)
Author(s)
Sakai, Tadashi
Olds, John R.
Advisor(s)
Editor(s)
Associated Organization(s)
Organizational Unit
Organizational Unit
Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering
The Daniel Guggenheim School of Aeronautics was established in 1931, with a name change in 1962 to the School of Aerospace Engineering
Series
Collections
Research Publications
Supplementary to:
Permanent Link
http://hdl.handle.net/1853/8388
Abstract
A multipurpose low thrust interplanetary trajectory calculation code has been developed. This code integrates the equations of motion along the trajectory assuming that the spacecraft is subject to a single attracting body and a constant thrust during both heliocentric and planetocentric phases. The histories of pitch and yaw angles for the heliocentric phase are calculated using the calculus of variations so that the spacecraft arrives at the destination planet with input heliocentric time of flight. For the planetocentric trajectory calculation, six equinoctial orbital elements are used in the vicinity of a planet with thrust direction fixed to be tangent to the path. For the heliocentric trajectory calculation, the components of position and velocity vectors are used. The output of the trajectory simulation is used as an input to mass estimating relationships that size the spacecraft. A VRML trajectory viewer helps to visualize how the spacecraft reaches its target.
Sponsor
Date
2003-08
Extent
326086 bytes
Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Paper
Rights Statement
Rights URI