Low Thrust Transfer Between Non-coplanar Circular Orbits

Design and analyze low-thrust orbit transfers

PDF document and MATLAB script named ltot.m that can be used to determine the characteristics of low-thrust orbital transfer between two non-coplanar circular orbits. The algorithm used in this script is based on Edelbaum’s method which is described in Chapter 14 of the book Orbital Mechanics by V. Chobotov and the technical paper, “The Reformulation of Edelbaum's Low-thrust Transfer Problem Using Optimal Control Theory” by J. A. Kechichian, AIAA-92-4576-CP. The original Edelbaum algorithm is described in “Propulsion Requirements for Controllable Satellites”, ARS Journal, August 1961, pages 1079-1089.