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Solar sailing trajectory optimization with planetary gravity assist

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  • Dynamics and Control
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Abstract

Significant propellant mass saving can be obtained with the use of complex multiple intermediate flyby maneuvers for conventional propulsion systems, and trip time also decreases for a portion of the proper solar sail missions. This paper discusses the performance of gravity assist (GA) in the time-optimal control problem of solar sailing with respect to sail lightness number and the energy difference between the initial and final orbit in the rendezvous problem in a two-body model, in which the GA is modeled as a substantial change in the velocity of the sailcraft at the GA time. In addition, this paper presents a method to solve the time-optimal problem of solar sailing with GA in a full ephemeris model, which introduces the third body’s gravity in a dynamic equation. This study builds a set of inner constraints that can describe the GA process accurately. Finally, this study presents an example for evaluating the accuracy and rationality of the two-body model’s simplification of GA by comparison with the full ephemeris model.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Aerospace, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    XingShan Cai, JunFeng Li & ShengPing Gong

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  1. XingShan Cai
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  2. JunFeng Li
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  3. ShengPing Gong
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Correspondence to ShengPing Gong.

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Cai, X., Li, J. & Gong, S. Solar sailing trajectory optimization with planetary gravity assist. Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. 58, 1–11 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-014-5567-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-014-5567-1

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