Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-b-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2018/paper-2/section-b/b8/a/solution

A Hohmann transfer orbit connects two coplanar circular orbits using two tangential, effectively instantaneous velocity changes. Take outward transfer radii , and write for the central body's gravitational parameter. The intervening ellipse has periapsis , apoapsis , semimajor axis and orbital eccentricity .
The circular speed is . Conservation of orbital energy gives the vis-viva equation . Therefore the transfer speeds at the two impulses are
The first prograde impulse raises the far side of the orbit; the second prograde impulse raises the near side to circularize at . Their magnitudes are
The transfer takes half an ellipse period. Kepler's third law gives
For inward transfer the same ellipse is traversed from apoapsis to periapsis and both burns are retrograde. A rendezvous also needs the correct initial phase of the target: for outward transfer its initial angular lead is modulo . The method assumes a two-body gravitational field, negligible atmospheric drag and burns short compared with an orbit. It is an economical two-impulse transfer between these circles; it is not universally the least- transfer if additional impulses and very large intermediate radii are permitted.

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