Optimization of interorbital three-dimensional transfer trajectories for stage spacecraft

Problems of three-dimensional trajectory optimization of transfers for stage spacecraft and spacecraft with auxiliary fuel tank (AFT) from the low circuit orbit of the Earth’s artificial satellite (EAS) into the geostationary orbit and optimization problems of fuel distribution in stages or tanks are solved. Control of spacecraft motion is conducted by jet engines of bounded thrust; stage engines can have different characteristics, i.e., thrust-to-weight ratio and specific thrust. The used stage or auxiliary fuel tank is detached on the passive segment. Detachment is considered to be instantaneous, if the spacecraft position and velocity do not change at the detachment instant and the mass decreases in jumping mode. The mass of detached tanks is considered proportionate to the mass of consumed fuel; the mass of engine and auxiliary constructions, to thrust-to-weight ratio. The useful mass of the spacecraft with the limited time of transfer is maximized. The considered problems are intricate nonlinear optimal control problems with discontinuous phase variables. They are formalized as optimal control problems by a union of dynamic systems and are solved on the basis of the corresponding principle of the maximum. In this paper, boundary-value problems of the principle of the maximum are numerically solved by the shooting method. The choice of computing schemes of the shooting method and solution to systems of nonlinear equations is conducted by using a series of auxiliary problems.