Linked Questions
34
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4
answers
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Requirements to orbit Pluto
I have seen this question posed often recently, without a satisfactory
answer in my opinion:
Why won’t New Horizons orbit Pluto?
The answers I read are always along this line:
too much fuel
too ...
- 1
5
votes
3
answers
472
views
How fast could we go back to Uranus and Neptune?
Since SpaceX is making everything so much cheaper to launch into space. If we launch a pair of orbiters to Uranus and Neptune, how fast could they get there? They could be really light and small, so ...
- 59
5
votes
2
answers
342
views
What is the effective "range" of a Falcon Heavy rocket with a very small payload?
Theoretically, If I decided to blow millions of dollars on a Falcon Heavy launch, simply to launch a 2kg cubesat as far as possible, how far could i send the payload assuming no gravity assists?
- 59
3
votes
2
answers
524
views
Journey to the center of the Sun (best trajectory)
Let's assume there is unlimitedly rich eccentric person living nowadays, who has been just diagnosed with a kind of terminal cancer (estimates are 3 years left) and their last wish is to jump into a ...
- 6,382
14
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Flying fuel tanks! Which deep-space spacecraft had the largest fuel mass fraction?
The Los Angeles Times' Deborah Netburn just wrote a really nice retrospective; ‘OK. Let’s do it!’ An oral history of how NASA’s Cassini mission to Saturn came to be with plenty of photos and quotes ...
- 148k
13
votes
1
answer
1k
views
No need for gravity assist with Falcon Heavy?
Elon Musk is quoted to have said, after the launch of Falcon Heavy, that «it can launch things direct to Pluto or beyond, no stop needed, don’t even need gravity assist or anything». Now, I am not an ...
- 231
6
votes
1
answer
247
views
What exactly is a solar gravity well manouver and in what cases would it be helpful?
In this answer to the gedankenexperiment question With current state of technology if we wanted how long would it take for newly launched probe to overtake Voyagers? I've seen the term "solar gravity ...
- 148k
3
votes
1
answer
175
views
Which programs are used to calculate delta V and launch dates to get to other objects?
I have noticed that many people here have used different programs to calculate the launch dates and delta V to get to other planets.
For example:
https://space.stackexchange.com/a/59585/44505
https://...
- 4,710
2
votes
1
answer
188
views
Could New Horizons' thrusters' ISP be as low as 157 sec?
A discussion below How much of a deep space spacecraft's structural mass is useless dead weight after launch? Any plans to shed it in the future? has lead to https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/...
- 148k
1
vote
1
answer
308
views
Would SpaceX Starship be able to slow down enough to enter orbit or land on Pluto-like objects?
The probes that use current technology to get to Pluto or other outer solar system objects cannot slow down enough for orbit insertion, so they can only flyby. But would Starship be able to slow down ...
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