From: henry@spsystems.net   
      
   In article ,   
   tribolumen  wrote:   
   >Does anyone know of a method, or a piece of software, for calculating (or at   
   >least approximating) low-thrust interplanetary trajectories?  Most of what   
   >I've found so far is PhD theses about using calculus of variations for fun   
   >and profit...   
      
   Unfortunately, that is about the level of things if you want optimization.   
   Low-thrust trajectory planning is a really hard problem, especially at the   
   far low end (ion thrusters) where major perturbations are comparable in   
   size to the engine thrust.   
      
   Unless things have changed in the last couple of years -- my contacts   
   there are intermittent -- even *JPL* does not have tools it considers   
   satisfactory for low-thrust trajectory planning.  (Mind you, their   
   standard are fairly high.)   
   --   
   "Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend."    |   Henry Spencer   
                                   -- George Herbert       | henry@spsystems.net   
      
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