Abstract
An obvious strategy to escape from a stable circular orbit in the Schwarzschild spacetime is to employ a tangential instantaneous acceleration. Using the theory of optimal rocket trajectories in general relativity, recently developed in Henriques and Natário (J Optim Theory Appl 154:500–552; 2011), we show that this manoeuvre satisfies the optimality conditions for maximizing the rocket’s final energy (given a fixed amount of fuel) if and only if the magnitude of the acceleration is smaller than a certain bound. This is the general relativistic version of a result by Lawden (J Brit Interplan Soc 12:68–71; 1953).
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
