Optimal elliptic maneuvering of a spacecraft with a solar engine

Abstract

The analysis of the optimal controls ensuring the minimization of the con-
sumption of the working fluid of an electric propulsion (EP) of a space-
craft that makes a flight between close elliptical orbits is provided. When
modeling the thrust of the EP, features of its generation in the plasma
EPs and the volt-ampere characteristics of a solar battery are accounted
for. In illustrative examples, the shadow effect on the efficiency of the EP
operation was studied. It is shown that there are such relations of location
and duration of the shadow arcs of the transfer trajectory, in which the
shadow does not affect the quality of the optimal maneuver performance.