Optimum Transition Orbit Design for Launch Vehicles

Abstract

In this paper, Design of flight trajectory in unpowered phase namely “Coast Phase” which is important in energy reduction in transition orbit of spacecrafts and launch vehicles is considered. To this aim, the velocity impulse at both sides of the transition phase (between initial and final orbits) is described as a parametric function of the geometry of the path. Then the optimal coasting trajectory is proposed using simple minimization techniques like Fibonacci Search Method and a Velocity-Required Based Steering technique simultaneously. A numerical study is performed using a three stage launch vehicle with a coast phase between second and third stages to show that the proposed technique is capable to produce optimum transition trajectory and since it is accompanied by guidance technique could be used as an online technique.

Keywords

• : launch vehicle
• trajectory
• coast phase
• optimization
• orbital mechanics
• transition orbit