'Dogleg' maneuvers for Project Galileo

Abstract

This paper describes the analysis and design of 'dog-leg' maneuvers for the spin-stabilized spacecraft of Project Galileo. These maneuvers involve a turn from one attitude to a firing attitude and then, following the motor burn, a turn to a new attitude. In general, the three attitudes (initial, firing and final) are noncoplanar. A computer program has been developed to find the firing attitude for the optimum conservation of propellant, while attaining a desired velocity change for the spacecraft. Results for several cases are presented.