CHARACTERISTIC VELOCITY LOSSES ASSOCIATED WITH NONZERO BURNING TIME MANEUVERS,

Characteristic velocity requirements associated with nonzero burning time maneuvers are investigated for vehicles having initial thrust-toweight ratios between 0.1 and 1.0, and specific impulses of 340, 460, and 850 seconds. Results are presented of comparisons of the characteristic velocity requirements of the finite thrust vehicles with the impulsive thrust requirements for equal missions. Three missions are considered 1 Plane-change maneuvers. 2 Inplane altitude transfer with no circularization at apogee. 3 In-plane altitude transfer with circularization at apogee. It is assumed that the maneuvers are performed with application of constant thrust magnitude. Author