Transfer From an Arbitrary Initial Flight Condition to a Point Target

Abstract

In Part I of this paper is developed a noniterative method for obtaining the minimum impulse necessary to reach a stationary point target from an initial flight condition where the target need not be in the original plane of motion. The degenerate cases of minimum energy trajectories and departure from a circular orbit are given special attention. In Part I I are obtained several sets of partial derivatives essential to an evaluation of range and/or flight-time errors at target. Special consideration is given to the singular points at which the Jacobian determinant associated with the transformation from one set of derivatives to another vanishes. Although the two parts constitute separate problems, both are needed for an overall evaluation of particular missions.