1

Introduction

Lamberts problem, in classical orbital mechanics, consists of computing a set of

orbital elements that uniquely define a satellites orbit given its inertial position
at two times. This powerful algorithm is used widely in the industry, in orbital
maneuver planning as well as orbit determination. The Lambert problem concept can be extended to relative motion for satellite proximity operations such
as rendezvous, servicing, or surveillance. This relative Lambert problem is
similar to the classical problem in that the relative orbit of a nearby spacecraft
is fully determined from two relative positions and the time elapsed between
them.
One method of solving the relative Lambert problem is simply to convert
a set of known relative positions to inertial positions and solve the classical
relative Lambert problem. Several issues arise with this method. First, this
method assumes that the inertial position of the local rotating frame is known
to high accuracy, as opposed to a relative Lambert solver applied directly in the
local frame,which only requires knowledge of the reference orbits mean motion
and mean radius. In many situations, it is desirable to perform all computations
directly in the local frame to avoid additional errors. Secondly, for missions
when the relative ranges are a small fraction of the inertial position magnitude,
numerical issues may arise.

Lamberts theorem

The time to traverse a trajectory depends only upon the length of the semimajor axis a of the transfer trajectory, the sum ri + rf of the distances of the
initial and final positions relative to a central body, and the length c of the
chord joining these two positions. This relationship can be stated as follows:
tof = tof (ri + rf , c, a)
From the following form of Keplers equation
p
t to = (a3 /)(E eSinE)

(1)

(2)

we can write
t to =

(a3 /)(E Eo e(SinE SinE0 ))

(3)

where E is the eccentric anomaly associated with radius r, Eo is the eccentric

anomaly at ro and t = 0 when r = ro .
At this point we need to introduce the following trigonometric sun and difference identities:

If we let E = and Eo = and substitute the first trig identity into the
second equation above, we have the following equation:
p
t to = (a3 /)(E Eo 2sin(E Eo /2)(ecos(E + Eo /2)
(4)
With the two substitutions given by

the time equation becomes

p
t to = (a3 /)( ) 2sin( /2)cos( + /2)
From the elliptic relationships given by

and some more manipulation, we have the following equations:

(5)

This part of the derivation makes use of the following three relationships:

With the use of the half angle formulas given by

and several additional substitutions, we have the time-of-flight form of Lamberts theorem