Optimal Finite-Thrust Small Spacecraft Aeroassisted Orbital Transfer

The article focuses on the optimal finite-thrust small spacecraft aero-assisted orbital transfer. Although the aforementioned research shows the benefit of an aeroassisted orbital transfer for a large-mass spacecraft, significantly less attention has been paid to the problem of small mass spacecraft aero-assisted orbital transfer. Because propulsion system limitations onboard a small spacecraft make the assumption of impulsive thrust unrealistic, in this research, we consider the problem of moderate finite-thrust aeroassisted orbital transfer of a small spacecraft with a mass of approximately 1000 kg. The aero-assisted orbital transfer is compared with an all-propulsive transfer, where the all propulsive transfer consists of a constant-thrust-powered exo-atmospheric flight phase that starts on the initial orbit and terminates on the final orbit with the required inclination change.