Low-thrust Earth-to-Mars Trajectory Analysis - SNOPT

Determines optimal, two-dimensional low-thrust Earth-to-Mars interplanetary trajectories.

PDF document and interactive MATLAB script named ilt_opt.m that can be used to analyze and optimize two-dimensional, heliocentric low-thrust trajectories between the orbits of Earth and Mars. In this script, the heliocentric planet orbits are assumed to be circular and coplanar. The optimal steering angle for either (1) minimum transfer time or (2) maximum final mass, are modeled as piecewise-linear variations. For both options, this script attempts to minimize the accumulated delta-v required to perform the transfer. Since the propulsive thrust is constant and continuous in this script, this is equivalent to minimizing the transfer time or maximizing the final mass.