Estimates of near-circular orbits after a single correction: a geometrical method

Estimates of the maneuvers of active space objects are considered. We propose analytical and numerical-analytical algorithms to estimate short-term and long-term one-impulse maneuvers for the case where the initial and final orbits are determined with errors. Both coplanar and noncoplanar maneuvers are considered. Special attention is given to the velocity and reliability of the solution of the problem. The process to find the solution has a geometrical interpretation. We provide examples of estimates for maneuvers of spacecraft located at geosynchronous orbits. The results obtained by the proposed method are compared with the results obtained by the traditional approach, excluding errors of orbit determination. © 2017, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.