Minimum Heat Input Optimal Skip Entry into Venus Atmosphere

Abstract

We present the optimal skip entry into Venus atmosphere of a space vehicle with minimum total heat input. The motion of the lifting body vehicle follows a plane e ight path, and the variation of the Venus density with altitude has an exponential law. The variational problem is a Lagrange problem, which becomes a bilocal problem and can be solved numerically with the transition matrix method. The numerical applications have practical interest for the vehicle’ s evolutions into Venus atmosphere.