Analysis of Earth-Uranus Direct-Transfer Trajectory for Optimal Delta-V Using Lambert’s Problem:: Science Publishing Group

Analysis of Earth-Uranus Direct-Transfer Trajectory for Optimal Delta-V Using Lambert’s Problem

Gisa Geoson Suseela, Yadu Krishnan Sukumarapillai, Hariprasad Thimmegowda, Pavan Kalyan Devaiah, Manjunath Nagendra, Tamore Silviya Dhiraj

Department of Aerospace Engineering, Alliance University, Bangalore, India

International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science, Volume 10, Issue 1, March 2022

Pages: 9-17

Received: May 23, 2022

Accepted: Jun. 09, 2022

Published: Jun. 21, 2022

DOI: 10.11648/j.ijass.20221001.12

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Abstract

The Ice Giants may become a sought-after destination in the coming decades as researchers aim to have a better awareness of our Solar system- its origins and growth. The interplanetary trajectory optimization is an important aspect of the analysis of a mission to Uranus. This study investigates possible interplanetary paths to Uranus in the 2022-2030 timeframe. It provides a preliminary estimate of fuel consumption in units of ΔV for various mission durations. A variety of approaches can be used to travel from Earth to another planet. It is conceivable to use a direct transfer route with two engine burns, one at a parking orbit around the Earth and the other to capture around the target planet. This article emphasizes a direct transfer trajectory analysis towards Uranus using Lambert’s problem. Different lambert arcs were considered for the direct transfer. Variations of excess velocities at arrival and departure for various time-of-flight were obtained. The ceiling of the time-of-flight was fixed as 16.5 years by performing a Hohmann transfer. The minimum ΔV was obtained for various time-of-flight ranging from 8.5 years to 16.5 years. The ideal ΔV obtained during the fixed timeframe lies between 6.87 km/s and 7.98 km/s. The minimum value of ΔV was observed for the time-of-flight of 13.5 years.

Keywords

Direct Transfer Trajectory, Lambert’s Problem, Patched-Conic Method, Earth-Uranus Mission, Optimal Delta-V, Interplanetary Mission

To cite this article

Gisa Geoson Suseela, Yadu Krishnan Sukumarapillai, Hariprasad Thimmegowda, Pavan Kalyan Devaiah, Manjunath Nagendra, et al. (2022). Analysis of Earth-Uranus Direct-Transfer Trajectory for Optimal Delta-V Using Lambert’s Problem. International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science, 10(1), 9-17. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijass.20221001.12

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This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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