I recently completed a substantial update to an independent astrodynamics study developed at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
The project examines transfer from a 300 km circular low-Earth orbit inclined at 28.5° to a circular equatorial orbit at geostationary radius. The work compares direct two-burn and bi-elliptic transfer strategies, optimizes the distribution of inclination change between maneuvers, evaluates the inclination crossover at which supersynchronous transfers become competitive, and uses ORION F1 as an operational comparison.
The analytical solution was then implemented in GMAT using both open-loop and differentially corrected simulations under a perturbed force model. The corrected trajectory reaches an effectively circular and equatorial GEO-radius state with a total maneuver cost only 2.514 m/s above the analytical minimum.
The updated report is available here:
https://engage.aiaa.org/aerospace-sciences/viewdocument/updated-project-3-inclined-leo-to-geo-transfer-optimization-supersynchronous-trade-study-and-gmat-verification?CommunityKey=23193ee4-a7ee-4117-b0ff-a7b3a69103f6&tab=librarydocuments
Supporting MATLAB code, GMAT scripts, trajectory reports, and figures are available here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vpXNY5cUCLrfhAllemOwGnp1nn-wprSp?usp=drive_link
I would appreciate feedback from members of the Huntsville aerospace community, particularly on whether this work could serve as the foundation for an AIAA student paper or a more advanced study involving finite burns, propellant depletion, launch-date geometry, or maneuver-execution dispersions.
I am especially interested in connecting with local engineers or faculty working in astrodynamics, trajectory design, or mission analysis.
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Egor Buntush
The University of Alabama in Huntsville
Huntsville AL
(615)484-9927
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