Abstract: For low Earth orbit target interception, a launch window calculation method is proposed based on the analysis of reachable domain of ascending trajectory. Firstly, an ascending trajectory and optimization model is developed with the flight duration and range as performance functions, which is then adopted to solve the reachable domain of the interceptor’s ascending trajectory. Secondly, a conservative launch window for a given target is initially screened out based on the traversal relationship between the target sub satellite point and the outer envelope of the solved reachable domain. Finally, an accurate launch window for target interception can be obtained by accurately determining the positional relationship between the sub satellite points of the target and each reachable domain for every flight duration. Simulation results show that the proposed calculation strategy can obtain the launch window with high efficiency and accuracy.

Key words: Target interception, Reachable domain, Launch window