Orbital Dynamics (2)
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As Dan Dare or Flash Gordon would tell you, changing the orbit of a spacecraft is a surprisingly tricky, and often counter-intuitive process! I firstly explain why you must speed up to apparently go slower (and vice versa!) and why you can't just go from one circular orbit to another. I then analyse the considerable complications that arise when the orbit-changing forces act other than solely in the direction of motion, with particular reference to the perturbations experienced by the asteroids due to the proximity of the giant planet Jupiter. Finally, after a summary of what we have learned, I consider how easily (or otherwise!) an astronaut could cause an object to fall out of orbit. Click on the title to read the article. |
De-orbiting an object
