Orbital Maneuver Study of High-Low Thrust Combined Multimodal Water Propulsion for On-Orbit Servicing
- For a 180° large-phase-difference rendezvous at 400 km LEO, the trade-off between mission time and propellant use was modeled with a high-fidelity absolute orbit dynamics formulation in modified equinoctial elements (MEE). Unified comparison criteria were set for pure high-thrust, pure low-thrust, and combined high–low thrust strategies, providing a reproducible simulation benchmark for trajectory optimization with terminal range error held within 100 m.
- To address orbit-integration contamination and terminal-error distortion from thrust-mode switching ripple, PID switching logic in simulation suppressed thrust fluctuation within ±5%. Lambert transfer and Pontryagin’s minimum principle (PMP) were tightly integrated for precise trajectory solution, with automated, high-confidence aggregation of fuel use, Δv, and mission metrics.
- To validate multimodal water propulsion for on-orbit servicing, three maneuver strategies were compared under matched initial and terminal constraints. The combined strategy saved 73.1% fuel versus pure high thrust and shortened mission time by 12.5% versus fuel-optimal low thrust (84 hours total), achieving the best performance balance while dual-mode redundancy significantly improved mission reliability.
Abstract
Aiming at the contradictory requirements of rapid large-scale orbital transfer and high-precision fuel-efficient orbit control in on-orbit servicing (OOS) missions, this paper proposes a multimodal water-propellant propulsion system integrating hydrogen-oxygen combustion high-thrust mode and electromagnetic plasma low-thrust mode. Three orbital maneuver strategies for a 180° phase-difference long-range rendezvous mission in 400 km LEO are designed: pure high-thrust impulsive, pure low-thrust optimal, and high-low thrust combined. High-fidelity simulations are carried out using the Lambert algorithm and Pontryagin’s minimum principle. Results show the combined strategy reduces fuel consumption by 73.1% compared to pure high-thrust, and shortens mission time by 12.5% compared to fuel-optimal low-thrust, while dual-mode redundancy improves mission reliability.