A Simple Control Scheme for the Problem of Spacecraft Transfer Into a Target Orbit With Releasing the Separable Part of Its Launch Vehicle Into the Earth’s Atmosphere

This paper considers the idea of reducing near-Earth space debris by releasing the spent additional fuel tank (AFT) and the booster’s central block (CB) into the Earth’s atmosphere. The spacecraft transfer from a reference circular orbit of an artificial Earth satellite to a target elliptical orbit is optimized. The transition maneuvers are carried out using a booster with a high limited-thrust engine and the AFT. The second zonal harmonic of the Earth’s gravitational field is taken into account. A simplified model of spacecraft control is considered: the direction of the thrust vector on each of the active segments are determined by two angles that depend linearly on time.