Powered-Flight Trajectories of Rockets Under Constant Transverse Thrust

Abstract

The second-order nonlinear differential equations of motion in the case of a rocket in drag-free powered-flight under constant transverse (normal to the focal radius) thrust are solved by series expansion developed to the seventh power of the independent variable “time.” The coefficients of the powers of time are in terms of given boundary conditions. The truncation errors of the series are estimated, hence the accuracy for any practical problem based on the analysis presented in this paper could be well established. The case of constant transverse thrust acceleration, which may be conceived as a special case of the present analysis, is also solved.