Optimal escape from circular orbits around black holes
  Using the theory of optimal rocket trajectories in general relativity, recently developed in arXiv:1105.5235, we show that the "obvious" manoeuvre of using a tangential instantaneous acceleration to escape a stable circular orbit in the Schwarzschild spacetime satisfies the optimality conditions if and only if the magnitude of the acceleration is smaller than a certain bound. 
Jose Natario
gr-qc math.OC