Optimal turning of winged space vehicles at constant altitude

The purpose of this paper is to give the optimal turning problem of winged space vehicles at constant altitude an extensive study. The trajectory optimization problem will be formulated into a very general form. The only control variable, i.e., the bank angle, can be solved from a general quadratic equation. Specific topics of interest are the maximum heading increment turn, the maximum range turn, and the turn to a point in minimum time. Particular effort will be devoted to investigate the shapes of the optimal turning trajectories at several different altitudes. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.