Rapid design method for interplanetary low-thrust transfer trajectory

A novel rapid method to design optimal-fuel interplanetary trajectory for low-thrust propulsion is presented based on normal trajectory approach. A simple two-point boundary value problem is formulated using a non-perturbation normal trajectory, which has the same endpoint time with low-thrust trajectory. The analytic state transition matrix is derived using three independent integrations of normal trajectory, and then the optimal solution of two-point boundary problem is obtained. The major advantage of this melhod is that it provides a more robust and efficient technique for solving interplanetary low-thrust transfer problem than traditional numerical optimization approaches. The rapid method introduced is demonstrated for an Earth-Mars low-thrust transfer application. The fuel cost computed using the proposed method exhibits a very close match (within 1%) with the corresponding fuel cost obtained with a precise numerical optimization approach.