Back Bi-elliptischer Transfer German Transferencia bielíptica Spanish Transfert bi-elliptique French Transfer bi-eliptik ID Trasferimento alla Sternfeld Italian 二重楕円遷移 Japanese 이중 타원 전이 Korean Bielliptisk overføringsbane NB Transferência bielíptica Portuguese Биэллиптическая переходная орбита Russian
In astronautics and aerospace engineering, the bi-elliptic transfer is an orbital maneuver that moves a spacecraft from one orbit to another and may, in certain situations, require less delta-v than a Hohmann transfer maneuver.
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The bi-elliptic transfer consists of two half-elliptic orbits. From the initial orbit, a first burn expends delta-v to boost the spacecraft into the first transfer orbit with an apoapsis at some point away from the central body. At this point a second burn sends the spacecraft into the second elliptical orbit with periapsis at the radius of the final desired orbit, where a third burn is performed, injecting the spacecraft into the desired orbit.[1]
While they require one more engine burn than a Hohmann transfer and generally require a greater travel time, some bi-elliptic transfers require a lower amount of total delta-v than a Hohmann transfer when the ratio of final to initial semi-major axis is 11.94 or greater, depending on the intermediate semi-major axis chosen.[2]
The idea of the bi-elliptical transfer trajectory was first[citation needed] published by Ary Sternfeld in 1934.[3]
- ^ Curtis, Howard (2005). Orbital Mechanics for Engineering Students. Elsevier. p. 264. ISBN 0-7506-6169-0.
- ^ Vallado, David Anthony (2001). Fundamentals of Astrodynamics and Applications. Springer. p. 318. ISBN 0-7923-6903-3.
- ^ Sternfeld, Ary J. (1934-02-12), "Sur les trajectoires permettant d'approcher d'un corps attractif central à partir d'une orbite keplérienne donnée" [On the allowed trajectories for approaching a central attractive body from a given Keplerian orbit], Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences (in French), 198 (1), Paris: 711–713.