Optimization of aeroassisted rendezvous and interception trajectories between non-coplanar elliptical orbits

Abstract Aeroassisted orbital maneuver can potentially reduce fuel consumption, compared with the traditional impulse maneuver. However, studies on aeroassisted orbital rendezvous and interception are limited to maneuvering between circular orbits. In this study, the optimal aeroassisted rendezvous and interception with elliptic initial and target orbits are investigated using the hp -adaptive pseudospectral method. Cases with minimum fuel and minimum time are considered. The initial state constraint at the deorbit position for an elliptical initial orbit is rederived first under the premise that the waiting time before the deorbit maneuver is an optimization variable. In addition, other interior constraints, including the constraints at the atmospheric entry and rendezvous/interception position, are derived. Considering the heating-rate and load factor constraints, numerical results demonstrate that the aeroassisted rendezvous and interception problems can be processed and easy to converge for optimization when elliptical initial and target orbits are considered. Moreover, comparative results with the traditional pure-impulse indicate that aeroassisted rendezvous and interception can reduce fuel consumption and adjust the rendezvous/interception time and phase with certain constraints.