Trajectory optimization for Ceres exploration using electric solar wind sail with a refined thrust model

The electric solar wind sail (E-sail for short) is an innovative concept for spacecraft propulsion, which can generate continuous thrust without propellant by reflecting solar wind ions. In previous literatures, the thrust of E-sail is described by a classical model, which neglected the effects of E-sail attitude on the propulsive thrust modulus and direction. The aim of this paper is to reappraise the performance of E-sail in the Ceres exploration mission with a new refined thrust model in polynomial form, which considered the effect of the spacecraft attitude on both the thrust modulus and direction. By using a hybrid optimization method, the trajectory optimization of E-sail from Earth to Ceres is implemented in an optimization framework. The numerical results show that the minimal flight time with refined thrust model is longer than that with classical model.