Possible trajectory profiles to achieve the geostationary orbit without any drift phase

Two mission strategies are examined for achieving a station longitude on the geostationary earth orbit (GEO) starting from either a low earth orbit (LEO) or from ground with no parking in LEO. Such trajectory profiles are somewhat different from the conventional ones used for targeting a longitude position in GEO for, typically, a telecommunication satellite. Neither of profile types presented requires a drift orbit. The new strategy would fully exploit the liquid bipropellant engines and additional capabilities of some of the current commercial launchers for inserting a satellite beyond GEO. The final goal of these strategies is to reach the desired station longitude in a time ranging from tens of hours to a few days, at most, with no additional propellant consumption with respect to the traditional trajectory profiles involving drifts. The new profiles may result in a significant increase of mission success probability together with less workload for the ground control center.