Optimal control for minimizing energy or fuel in finite-thrust orbit transfer

The problem of optimal finite-thrust orbit transfer for minimizing energy, fuel and energy-fuel combination is studied by using a indirect method. The fuel optimal orbit transfer problem is hard to be solved because of the possible existence of the singularities in the solution, but the minimum energy problem is relatively easy to deal with. A ??-algorithm is used to solve the fuel optimal problem via the addition of the energy term in the preference index. The trajectory optimization problem is deduced into a two-point-boundary-value problem, and the shooting method is used to dispose the problem in numerical computation. Simulations demonstrate that the optimal trajectories are almost alike under the three optimal case conditions of the same thrust and the transfer time.EI06715-7194