High-thrust and low-thrust two-stage LEO-LEO transfer

In this paper a low-altitude orbit-to-orbit minimum-fuel transfer is discussed. The spacecraft consists of a high-thrust solid stage and a low-thrust liquid stage. The thrust acceleration ratio is greater than 500. Both initial and final orbits are circular but non-coplanar. In particular, altitudes of 300 and 500–600 km together with an inclination difference of about 16 deg are considered. J2 and drag perturbations and flight constraints are taken into account. The current discussion is centred on the nominal trajectory of a case of real interest.