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Accession Number
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N20120014379
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Title
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Optimization of Low-Thrust Spiral Trajectories by Collocation.
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Publication Date
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Sep 2012
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Media Count
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24p
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Personal Author
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J. W. Dankanich R. D. Falck
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Abstract
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As NASA examines potential missions in the post space shuttle era, there has been a renewed interest in low-thrust electric propulsion for both crewed and uncrewed missions. While much progress has been made in the field of software for the optimization of low-thrust trajectories, many of the tools utilize higher-fidelity methods which, while excellent, result in extremely high run-times and poor convergence when dealing with planetocentric spiraling trajectories deep within a gravity well. Conversely, faster tools like SEPSPOT provide a reasonable solution but typically fail to account for other forces such as third-body gravitation, aerodynamic drag, solar radiation pressure. SEPSPOT is further constrained by its solution method, which may require a very good guess to yield a converged optimal solution. Here the authors have developed an approach using collocation intended to provide solution times comparable to those given by SEPSPOT while allowing for greater robustness and extensible force models.
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Keywords
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Aerodynamic drag
Collocation
Convergence
Electric propulsion
Gravitation
Nasa programs
Solar radiation
Trajectories
Trajectory optimization
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Source Agency
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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NTIS Subject Category
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84A - Astronautics
84D - Spacecraft Trajectories & Flight Mechanics
84C - Manned Spacecraft
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Corporate Author
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Cleveland, OH. NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field.
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Document Type
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Technical report
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Title Note
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N/A
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NTIS Issue Number
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1307
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Contract Number
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N/A
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