AN ANALYTIC PROOF THAT THE HOHMANN-TYPE TRANSFER IS THE TRUE MINIMUM TWO-IMPULSE TRANSFER

Abstract

Although it is commonly assumed that the Hohmann transfer is the optimum two-impulse transfer, an analytic proof has never been given. Ting (Jnl. of Amer. Rock Soc, Vol. 30:1013-18, 1960) proved the conjecture for the ''nearly Hohmanntype'' orbit. An analytic proof of this conjecture in full generality is presented. (Author)