1 / 11

Orbital Mechanics

Orbital Mechanics. Orbital Mechanics refers to the general description of how bodies move in force fields (such as gravity) given that energy and momentum are conserved.

Download Presentation

Orbital Mechanics

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Orbital Mechanics • Orbital Mechanics refers to the general description of how bodies move in force fields (such as gravity) given that energy and momentum are conserved. • For two spherical objects in which gravity is the only force, this problem is analytic, and both bodies execute elliptical orbits (i.e., they obey Kepler’s laws).

  2. Vis-Viva Equation • Gravity is an attractive force. As you fall toward a body of mass, you speed up; as you move away, you slow down. • The Vis-Viva equation is a simple and useful relation describing this interrelation between total orbital speed and proximity to the dominant massive body.

  3. Being a Rocket Scientist! • Spaceflight is expensive. Energy is required to lift mass away from the Earth into space ($thousands per kilogram). • Question: What is the minimum energy orbit transfer, requiring the minimum fuel to move from one planet to another? • Ans: Hohmann orbit transfers. • In part, want to take advantage of the fact that the Earth is already moving at about 30 km/sec.

  4. Types of Orbit Transfers

  5. Transfer Orbits in the Solar System

  6. Timing for a Mars Visit

  7. Orbit of Voyager

  8. Gravitational Boosts for Voyager

  9. Geostationary Orbits

  10. Issues for Colonizing Other Worlds • TRAVEL - Getting there and back (cost and time). • POLITICS - Who is in charge? Who reaps the benefits? Who “owns”? • GRAVITY - What happens anatomically, physiologically, psychologically, and sociologically in terms of future generations born in different gravity (lower g) environs? • WATER - Finding, bringing, controlling. • ATMOSPHERE - Atmospheres moderate day/night temperature extremes. Also need breathable air. Terra-forming versus building and maintaining specialized habitations. • RADIATION/SOLAR WIND/COSMIC RAYS - What if no ozone? What if no magnetosphere? Might have to live underground.

More Related