Gravity Perturbed Optimal Orbital Transfer Analysis - OTB

Optimal two impulse transfer subject to non-spherical gravity perturbations - Optimization Toolbox version

This submission is a script named poota_otb which can be used to solve the optimal two-impulse, non-spherical gravity perturbed orbital transfer between non-coplanar Earth orbits. This algorithm initializes with a two-body initial guess for the orbital transfer and uses the fmincon algorithm of the Mathworks® Optimization Toolbox (OTB) to determine the optimum two impulse orbit transfer subject to non-spherical Earth gravity perturbations. Additional orbit perturbations such as third-body point mass gravity, aerodynamic drag or solar radiation pressure can easily be added to the equations of motion of this MATLAB script.

The poota_otb script uses modified equinoctial orbital elements to solve the gravity perturbed orbit transfer “targeting” problem. Additional information about these orbital elements along with techniques for trajectory modeling can be found in Appendix A. That appendix also explains how to use components and combinations of these non-singular elements to calculate a variety of final orbital element targets or boundary conditions.

Appendix B of this document describes the algorithm used to create the initial guess for the poota_otb MATLAB script.

A brief introduction to nonlinear programming can be found in Appendix C of this document.