Three-Dimensional Interplanetary Trajectories

Developments in guided missiles and related scientific areas have reached a state where ballistic flights to the planets Venus and Mars are feasible and imminent with existing hardware. This paper discusses considerations involved in making actual ballistic flight to Venus. Conventional two-dimensional analysis is compared to the actual three-dimensional case. Burnout conditions required to minimize the problems of guidance, payload, range safety, booster aerodynamics, midcourse guidance, and capture are established. Problems relating to launch times, launch latitude, and interplanetary communications are also discussed.