1105.5235 (Pedro G. Henriques et al.)

The rocket problem in general relativity    [PDF]

Pedro G. Henriques, Jose Natario

We derive the covariant optimality conditions for rocket trajectories in general relativity, with and without a bound on the magnitude of the proper acceleration. The resulting theory is then applied to solve two specific problems: the minimum fuel consumption transfer between two galaxies in a FLRW model, and between two stable circular orbits in the Schwarzschild spacetime.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1105.5235