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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Applying Flywheel Energy Storage To Solar Electric Orbital Transfers, Mark W. Marasch
Applying Flywheel Energy Storage To Solar Electric Orbital Transfers, Mark W. Marasch
Theses and Dissertations
This study investigated the application of flywheel energy storage to minimum time, constant thrust orbital maneuvers using electric propulsion. The advantages of using stored energy to continue electric thruster operations while in eclipse were explored. The boundary value problems for several schemes of energy use were examined, and numerical solutions were found. Results of simulations utilizing energy storage were compared to results without energy storage. Schemes incorporating energy storage were found to have advantages in terms of propellant mass used, time spent in transit, and deliverable payload.
Optimal Non-Coplanar Launch To Quick Rendezvous, Gregory B. Sears
Optimal Non-Coplanar Launch To Quick Rendezvous, Gregory B. Sears
Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of launching a Delta Clipper-like vehicle on an optimal, non-coplanar trajectory to rendezvous with an earth orbiting object in one orbit or less. The focus of the research was to determine what such a trajectory would look like, and to determine the cost, in payload mass, of flying such a trajectory. A model for the ascent trajectory was developed using the dynamics equations of motion, an atmosphere model, and an aerodynamic model for the DC-Y concept vehicle. A boundary value problem was posed and solved for a coplanar rendezvous. The …