Efficiency of Application of Low-Thrust Throttling Rocket Engines for Near-Earth Orbital Flights

摘要

Research of motion control of spacecraft (SC) with throttling electric rocket engine (ERE) of constant power providing delivery of maximum payload for performing the prescribed interorbital transfer in the central Newtonian gravity field in a given time is under consideration. Efficiency of the optimal control is compared with the computational results, obtained with the use of the classical mathematical model of ideal controllable ERE. The results are obtained in the model problem about SC transfer from a low near-Earth orbit onto the geostationary one. They confirm the adequacy of the constructed mathematical model of the throttling ERE and enable discovering of a number of considerable peculiarities of optimal trajectories.