A pole-sitter orbit is a closed path that is constantly above one of the Earth’s poles by means of continuous lownthrust. This work proposes to hybridize solar sail propulsion and solar electric propulsion on the same spacecraft tonenable such a pole-sitter orbit. Locally optimal control laws are found with a semianalytical inversemethod, startingnfrom a trajectory that satisfies the pole-sitter condition in the sun–Earth circular restricted three-body problem.nThese solutions are subsequently used as a first guess to find optimal orbits, using a direct method based onnpseudospectral transcription. The orbital dynamics of both the pure solar electric propulsion case and the hybridncase are investigated and compared. It is found that the hybrid spacecraft allows savings on propellantmass fraction.nFinally, is it shown that for sufficiently long missions, a hybrid pole sitter, based on midterm technology, enables anconsistent reduction in the launch mass for a given payload, with respect to a pure solar electric propulsionnspacecraft.
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