Dr. John Junkins’, inspired by the space race and a prominent aerospace engineer T.N. Edelbaum, set out to answer a question Edelbaum posed over 50 years ago: How many impulses?
Specifically, how many velocity impulses — and in what direction and at what time — must be used to allow a spacecraft to “fly” from its starting point to reach a specified destination with a minimum total impulse?
Prior to Junkins’ and his team’s recent work, there was no rigorous process to answer Edelbaum’s question, which arises in virtually every space flight mission. By varying the theoretical maximum thrust allowed by x amount, Junkins, alongside Dr. Ehsan Taheri, revealed the solution for any maximum thrust level. As the theoretical maximum thrust is allowed to approach infinity, longer coasts appear between ever shorter optimal thrust arcs. The limiting case is the answer to Edelbaum’s optimal impulse question for any feasible orbit transfer.
FEATURED RESEARCHER
Dr. John Junkins
- Distinguished Professor of Aerospace Engineering
- Regents Professor
- Holder of the Royce E. Wisenbaker
- Chair Director, Hagler Institute for Advanced Study