RENDEZVOUS IN ELLIPTICAL ORBITS
Abstract
A study is made of the rendezvous of a commuter with a target which is in an established elliptical orbit. The commuter has received its main boost and has arrived in the vicinity of the target with errors in position and velocity. The rendezvous is accomplished with two impulses, one initially and the second, at interception to reduce the relative velocity to zero. Use is made of adjoint equations with the linearized equations of relative motion to calculate the required initial impulse. For given target and commuter conditions, this technique depends only on the time chosen to effect rendezvous. Trial and error solutions are not necessary to find the commuter trajectory (based on the linearized equations) from an initial position to the target. Two cases are considered, one with the commuter trajectory in the target orbit plane, and the other out of the plane. Twelve different times to effect rendezvous are considered in each case. The accuracy is checked by calculating actual trajectories using both the linearized and exact equations of relative motion. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1962
- Accession Number
- AD0285262
Entities
People
- Charles B. Humphreys
Organizations
- University of Michigan