Orbital Mechanics III

SNS 304
L-5

ORBITAL MANEUVERS

Osama M. Shalabiea
12-5-2021
Walter Hohmann (1880–1945) was a German engineer whose interest in early
rocketry led him to discover the orbital transfer maneuver that now bears his name.
In a book published in 1925 (Hohmann,1925), he showed that the Hohmann transfer
is the most energy-efficient two-impulse maneuver for transferring between two
coplanar circular orbits sharing a common focus.
 Without the latter delta-v burn, the spacecraft would, of course, remain
on the Hohmann transfer ellipse and return to A.
The total energy expenditure is reflected in the total delta-v
requirement,

The same total delta-v is required if the transfer begins at B on the outer circular orbit.
Since moving to the lower energy inner circle requires lowering the energy of the
spacecraft, the Δʋ’s must be accomplished by retrofires.
That is, the thrust of the maneuvering rocket is directed opposite to the flight direction to
act as a brake on the motion. From Chapter (2) an elliptical orbit is found from its radius
to periapsis rp and its radius to apoapsis ra (Eq’s 2.84 -2.50)
 This is a useful formula for analyzing Hohmann transfers,
because knowing h we can find the apsidal velocities from

Note that for circular orbits (ra = rp), Eq.

Alternatively, one may prefer to compute the
velocities by means of the energy equation
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