TY - JOUR A2 - Yokoyama, Tadashi AU - Sukhanov, A. A. AU - Prado, A. F. B. A. PY - 2012 DA - 2012/04/10 TI - Low-Thrust Orbital Transfers in the Two-Body Problem SP - 905209 VL - 2012 AB - Low-thrust transfers between given orbits within the two-body problem are considered; the thrust is assumed power limited. A simple method for obtaining the transfer trajectories based on the linearization of the motion near reference orbits is suggested. Required calculation accuracy can be reached by means of use of a proper number of the reference orbits. The method may be used in the case of a large number of the orbits around the attracting center; no averaging is necessary in this case. The suggested method also is applicable to the cases of partly given final orbit and if there are constraints on the thrust direction. The method gives an optimal solution to the linearized problem which is not optimal for the original nonlinear problem; the difference between the optimal solutions to the original and linearized problems is estimated using a numerical example. Also examples illustrating the method capacities are given. SN - 1024-123X UR - https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/905209 DO - 10.1155/2012/905209 JF - Mathematical Problems in Engineering PB - Hindawi Publishing Corporation KW - ER -