AE-777A (Optimal Space

Flight Control)

Quiz No. 6 (Solution)

Quiz No. 6 (Solution)

1. A spacecraft is in an orbit of eccentricity,

e = 0.7, around the Earth (µ = 398600.4 km3/s2)
When the radius is 6900 km and the speed
is 7.4 km/s, a velocity impulse of magni-
tude 500 m/s is applied at an angle 60◦
from the initial velocity direction, in order
to increase both the speed and flight-path
angle simultaneously, but without chang-
ing the orbital plane. Determine the new
orbit (a, e) of the spacecraft.

Ans.
We first determine the semi-major axis of
the original orbit as follows:
v2 µ
= − = −30.38817 km2/s
2 r
µ
a = − = 6558.479 km
2
Next, the flight-path angle at the point of
application of the impulse is determined as
follows:

p = a(1 − e2) = 3344.8243 km

√
h = µp = 36513.67274 km2/s
h
 
φ = cos−1 = 0.77401 rad. (44.3475◦)
rv
Now, from the velocity triangle of impulse
application yields the following sine law:
v0 ∆v v
= =
sin β sin ∆φ sin(β − ∆φ)
where β = 60◦ is the angle at which the
impulse of magnitude ∆v = 0.5 km/s is
applied from the original velocity direction,
v 0 is the magnitude of the increased veloc-
ity, and ∆φ the increase in the flight-path
angle at the given radius, r. This sine law
yields ∆φ as follows:
∆v sin β
tan ∆φ = = 0.056603
v + ∆v cos β
or ∆φ = 3.23965◦. Substituting this re-
sult into the sine law produces the follow-
ing magnitude of increased velocity:
sin β
v 0 = ∆v = 7.662245 km/s
sin ∆φ
The semi-major axis of the new orbit is
computed from the new orbital speed as
follows:
(v 0 )2 µ
0
 = − = −28.4132 km2/s
2 r
µ
a0 = − 0
= 7014.359 km
2
Now, the increased flight-path angle is used
to calculate the orbital eccentricity of the
new orbit as follows:

φ0 = φ + ∆φ = 47.5872◦
h0 = rv 0 cos φ0 = 35658.75288 km2/s
p0 = (h0)2/µ = 3190.0286 km
s
p0
e0 = 1 − 0 = 0.738386
a
2. Estimate the smallest total velocity impulse
magnitude required for sending a space-
craft from the Earth (orbital radius 1 AU =
1.495978 × 108 km) to Mars (orbital radius
1.524 AU). Assume that both the planets
are in coplanar circular orbits around the
Sun (µ = 1.327 × 1011 km3/s2), and that
the gravitational influence of the planets on
the spacecraft during the transfer is negli-
gible.

Ans.
The optimal transfer between two circu-
lar orbits of radii r1 and r2 > r1, when
r2/r1 < 15.58 is Hohmann transfer. For a
Hohmann transfer between the given radii,
r1 = 1 AU and r2 = 1.524 AU, we have
the following semi-major axis of the trans-
fer ellipse :
r1 + r2
a= = 1.262 AU (188792423.6 km)
2
The two impulse magnitudes are then cal-
culated by
s s
2µ µ µ
∆v1 = − − = 2.94605 km/s .
r1 a r1
s s
µ µ µ
∆v2 = − − = 2.64998 km/s .
r2 r2 a
Both the impulses are applied in the direc-
tion of motion. The total velocity impulse
magnitude required for the mission is the
following:

∆v = ∆v1 + ∆v2 = 5.59603 km/s .

3. Spacecraft A is orbiting the Moon (µ =
4902.8 km3/s2) in a circular orbit of ra-
dius 2000 km, and a lander spacecraft has
landed on the Moon’s surface (radius 1737.1
km) at a point B in the orbital plane of
A. Now the lander has to return to the
orbiting spacecraft A. What minimum ve-
locity impulse (magnitude and direction)
should be provided to the lander such that
it reaches the orbit of A, when A is exactly
180◦ ahead of B?

Ans.
For a minimum-energy orbit between r1
and r2 with ∆θ = 180◦ we have c = r1 +r2,
or
1 1
a = (r1 + r2 + c) = (r1 + r2)
4 2
The orbit equation applied to the two po-
sitions gives
p
r1 =
1 + e cos θ1
 p p
r2 = =
1 + e cos θ2 1 + e cos(θ1 + π)
p
=
1 − e cos θ1
which is solved to give
r − r1
e cos θ1 = 2
r1 + r2
Substituting this result into the orbit equa-
tion yields
2r1r2
p= = a(1 − e2)
r1 + r2
Then substituting a = (r1 +r2)/2 and solv-
ing for e we get
s
4r1r2 r2 − r1
e= 1− =
(r1 + r2)2 r1 + r2
This result implies that θ1 = 0 and θ2 = π,
hence r1 and r2 are the periapse and the
apoapse radii, respectively, of the transfer
ellipse.
Substituting the given numerical values, we
get a = 1868.55 km, and the following
velocity impulse magnitude applied to the
lander to send it along the transfer ellipse:
s
2µ µ
∆v1 = − = 1.73809 km/s
r1 a
Since the periapse is at r1, the impulse is
applied tangentially to the transfer ellipse
at r1, i.e., in the horizontal direction (nor-
mal to the radius vector at r1).
4. A spacecraft flying in a spherical gravity
field of gravitational constant, µ, is pow-
ered by a continuous-thrust engine, which
has its thrust acceleration magnitude, a(t),
limited as follows:
0 ≤ a(t) ≤ am
where am  µ/r2 is a constant. Formulate
the boundary-value problem to be solved
(differential equations, boundary conditions,
and control laws for both magnitude and
direction) for optimally transferring the space-
craft from an initial circular orbit of radius,
r1, to a final circular orbit of radius, r2, in
a fixed time, tf .

Ans.
The equations of motion of a spacecraft in
a spherical gravity field with thrust accel-
eration input, a(t) = a(t)n(t), where n is a
unit vector in the thrust direction, are the
following:
µ
v̇ = − 3 r + an
r
and
ṙ = v = ṙir + rθ̇iθ
where r = (r, θ)T and v = (ṙ, rθ̇)T are the
radius and velocity vectors for this coplanar
transfer.

The boundary conditions for transferring

the spacecraft from an initial circular orbit
of radius, r1, to a final coplanar, circular
orbit of radius, r2, in a fixed time, tf , are
given by:

r(0) = r1, r(tf ) = r2

ṙ(0) = 0, ṙ(tf ) = 0
s s
µ µ
v(0) = r1θ̇(0) = , v(tf ) = r2θ̇(tf ) =
r1 r2
The true anomaly at the beginning of the
transfer, θ(0), is fixed by the initial condi-
tion. The true anomaly for the final time,
θ(tf ), is given by:
s
µ
θ(tf ) = θ(0) + tf
r23

The final characteristic speed, c(tf ), is a

measure of the total propellant expendi-
ture, m(0) − m(tf ), and therefore must be
minimized for an optimal transfer. Hence,
the objective function to be minimized for
the smallest possible propellant requirement
is the following:
Z t
f
J = c(tf ) = a(t)dt
0
which results in the following Hamiltonian
for the optimal control problem:

H = λT T
r v + λv [g(r) + an] + λc a
where g(r) = −µr/r3 is the acceleration
due to gravity, λr and λv are the two-
dimensional costate vectors corresponding
to r and v, respectively, and λc corresponds
to the characteristic speed.

The optimal thrust direction is given in

terms of the primer vector, p(t) = −λv (t),
as follows:
p
n̂ =
p
where p is governed by the following dif-
ferential equation:
∂g T
 
p̈ = p
∂r
µ 3µ
= − 3 p + 5 rrT p
r r
The boundary conditions for the primer vec-
tor and its time derivative are the following:

ṗ(tf ) = 0, p(tf ) = 0
The costate equation corresponding to the
characteristic speed is the following:
∂H T ∂H T
   
λ̇c = − = −a =0
∂c ∂t
where the Hamiltonian is time-invariant due
to the constant upper bound, am. Further-
more, the terminal boundary condition on
λc yields the following:
∂φ
 
λc(tf ) = =1
∂c t=tf
which results in λc = λc(tf ) = 1, and yields
the following Hamiltonian:

H = a(1 − p) + ṗT v − pT g
Due to the linearity of H relative to a, the
optimal control problem is singular in accel-
eration magnitude. However, the bounds
on a allow the application of the Pontrya-
gin’s minimum principle as follows:

â(1 − p) + ṗT v − pT g ≤ a(1 − p) + ṗT v − pT g

or
â(1 − p) ≤ a(1 − p)
where â refers to the optimal control, and

0 ≤ a ≤ am
The last two inequalities result in the fol-
lowing switching condition for the optimal
control magnitude:



 am , (p − 1) > 0




â(t) = 0, (p − 1) < 0





0 < â < am , p=1

