The invention discloses a pulse and pneumatic assistance combination-based low-
orbit orbit plane transfer method, relates to a large-range
orbit plane transfer method for an earth low-orbit
spacecraft, and belongs to the field of
aerospace. The method comprises the steps of firstly establishing the number of orbits and a
dynamic equation of a
flight process in
atmosphere; changing an orbit of the
spacecraft to a highly
elliptic orbit in a maneuvering manner by applying a pulse, and enabling the
spacecraft to enter the
atmosphere by applying an de-orbit pulse at an apogee; selecting an optimization target as a maximum change amount of an
orbit plane, giving constraints and obtaining an
optimal control rate and a terminal
state variable meeting aerodynamic requirements, thereby finishing pneumatic assisted
orbit plane transfer; and enabling the spacecraft to fly out of the
atmosphere and run to a target orbit height along a
transfer orbit, and enabling the spacecraft to enter a target orbit by applying an
orbit determination pulse. According to the method, the
orbit plane transfer of the low-orbit spacecraft can be finished with relatively low fuel consumption; and the method is good in robustness, high in
repeatability, small in influence of spacecraft orbit orientation, high in flexibility of a pneumatic assistance process, and wide in application range for the target orbit.