Questions tagged [astrodynamics]
The study of satellite orbits and space flight dynamics.
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Hill approximation of the CRTBP (Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem) derivation
Dear fellow space enthusiasts,
Let us first consider the classical CRTBP equations of motion by defining the position vector of the spacecraft
\begin{equation}
\boldsymbol{r}=[x,y,z]^{T},
\end{...
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0answers
36 views
Working out time spent by spacecraft above certain latitudes
I'm currently working through some practice exercises and one is about how many minutes per orbit a spacecraft spends above a certain latitude. How can this be calculated? I can't find any equations ...
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0answers
40 views
Using the Clohessy-Wiltshire equation, what would be the expression for ' r '?
I'm looking for an expression for r. The difficulty I'm facing is simplifying the C-W equation
2
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1answer
71 views
How can we express velocity of the Apollo mission relative to a moon-centered reference frame instead of an inertial reference frame?
I am really interested in the Apollo mission and I was wondering how fast did the astronaut pass by relative to the moon. I wanted to compare it with the speed of the car. I have been able to ...
4
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0answers
44 views
Does the short-angle solution of Lambert's Method break down for very Delta-V intensive maneuvers?
Just a (hopefully) quick qualitative question that I'm having a bit of trouble extracting from the literature: I've implemented a universal-variables Lambert's method in python, and it has been ...
13
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1answer
2k views
How to choose the best direction to leave Earth's sphere of influence?
What direction is optimal for spacecraft to leave Earth's sphere of influence (SOI) when it's going to an outer or inner planet?
Let's presume that we have a spacecraft in a circular LEO (ecc=0.0). ...
2
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2answers
129 views
Is it more efficient to burn all needed fuel in an Oberth manoeuvre at once or burn a fraction of the fuel for each orbit?
I was looking into Parker Solar Probes trajectory and was wondering what would be the most optimal way to utilize a retrograde thrust at perihelion to reduce the number of needed gravity assists. I ...
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2answers
54 views
Apparent Centering Problem When Using the Perifocal System to Draw Orbital Ellipses
I am attempting to render orbital ellipses in software. Given a set of orbital elements, I am using the Perifocal system to determine a set of points along the curve of the ellipse. I am using the ...
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46 views
Lagrange Coefficients for Hyperbolic Orbits
Here is the expressions for f,g and f dot for elliptic orbits. I would like to find similar expressions for hyperbolic orbit case.
4
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1answer
107 views
Does Kepler's Method for Determining Time of flight between two True Anomalies break down with eccentricities approaching 1?
Pretty simple question here. I'm calculating time of flight between two true anomalies by converting those true anomalies to mean anomalies and using the following equation:
$\Delta t = t_2-t_1 = \...
4
votes
3answers
135 views
Speed at aphelion is decreasing for Parker Solar Probe with each new orbit despite being closer to the Sun
Sorry for the really bad picture
I am looking at some data from the Parker Solar Probe mission and I was looking at the speeds of PSP at perihelion and aphelion at each new, different, orbit (the ...
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0answers
62 views
Fundamentals of Rendezvous and Proximity Operations
I am trying to work out how to calculate / model a rendezvous and proximity operation between two spacecraft. I have read several research papers, but none of them walk me through step by step how to ...
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1answer
77 views
Increase in period and semi-major axis following near head-on collision between Cerise and Ariane debris (1996)
This report describes the collision of the French satellite Cerise with a piece of Ariane rocket debris (object no. 18208) in 1996:
http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?...
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0answers
55 views
What is the relationship between the periapsis altitude and the change in velocity in a gravity assist?
In a gravity assist maneuver if I were to decrease the distance from the rocket to the periapsis of the planet it is orbiting (I believe this is called the periapsis altitude but I may be wrong) it ...
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0answers
123 views
Kepler prediction problem, fundamentals of astrodynamics
I needed help with problem 4.3 of Fundamentals of Astrodynamics by Roger R. Bate, Donald D. Mueller, Jerry E. White (dover, archive.org)
Given that $r_0 = (I+j)$ and $v_0 = 2k$ find $r$ and $v$ for ...
2
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1answer
49 views
Determining orbital elements from r and v vectors - Fundamentals of Astrodynamics Example Problem
I am fighting my way through Fundamentals of Astrodynamics 1st edition for the fun of it. I have made it up to section 2.4 and have successfully completed all the example problems and chapter ...
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1answer
208 views
Why is there a singularity in Lambert solutions for transfers of pi-multiple degrees?
Lambert provides a solution as long as the transfer angle is not 0, 180 or 180-multiple degrees. Why is that?
4
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1answer
50 views
How can I generate Chebyshev cofficients from SPICE for J2000 Inertial to Moon ME Frame?
I want to extract the Chebyshev coefficients in order to be able to calculate the time-varying transformation from the ICRF / J2000 Inertial frame to the Moon ME (moon mean earth) frame. I know I can ...
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0answers
41 views
What ways can a University Student get involved in Trajectory Design?
As a physics student (not an engineer) in India, I can't seem to find a lot of opportunities to involve myself in what I find most appealing about what I'm studying in University i.e. astrodynamics. ...
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49 views
Differences between Semi Major Axes and ECF Magnitudes for Circular Orbits with J2 Perturbation
I have simulated (in STK) a satellite at near circular orbit, near-equator, with Brouwer Lyddane Mean Long SMA of 6935.31km, inclination 10 degrees, and eccentricity of 0.0001875 (these are solved-for ...
2
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2answers
8k views
Does the speed of ISS slow down at the time of a spacewalk or does it become stationary?
The International Space Station (ISS) is orbiting at nearly 7.66 km/s. At such high speeds, how do astronauts perform tasks outside the ISS? Or is it all relative like astronauts are having same speed ...
6
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1answer
365 views
Can we go anywhere in space with only THREE reaction wheels and ONE chemical thruster?
I had a discussion the other day with some of my peers and they were very keen on the fact the it is possible to change your orbit as desired using a single thruster and a three reaction wheels. The ...
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1answer
461 views
Why is FORTRAN recommended for astrodynamics rather than MATLAB?
I understand that FORTRAN might be faster in terms of computation time, but I don't understand why it is always recommended by people in the field. Everyone tends to avoid MATLAB for astrodynamics; is ...
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2answers
211 views
How big a nuke would be needed to break Phobos out of orbit?
Phobos
Radius: 11.267 km
Orbital period: 8 hours
Equatorial rotation velocity: 11.0 km/h (6.8 mph) (at longest axis)
With an 8 hour orbit around Mars it must be going at a fair clip already which ...
8
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1answer
154 views
Why haven't there been more space missions that use low-energy trajectories?
The Wikipedia article on low-energy transfers lists only 4 spacecraft over the past decades that at some point of the mission navigated low-energy trajectories, yet there has been extensive research ...
3
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1answer
202 views
What forces a spacecraft, returning from Earth orbit, to synchronize with Earth spin?
This seems like a banal question, but the more I think about it, the less I understand the mechanics of it. Does the progressively denser atmosphere pick up the spacecraft and carries it along the ...
5
votes
1answer
210 views
Launch vehicle trajectory tool for ascent phase to orbit using PYTHON
Currently, I am developing a trajectory optimization tool for launch vehicle from lift-off to orbit using python for my project. Since I'm new to optimization problem, I am finding it hard to ...
4
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1answer
284 views
Is the amount of accurate information in a TLE equal to that of a single state vector?
My question is basically regarding whether there is orbital information "lost" when converting from a Two Line Element set (TLE) to a state vector.
Given that the following are true:
I have a TLE, ...
3
votes
1answer
543 views
Converting UT1/UTC to Julian Date
I am reading about the algorithms to convert from date and time format to Julian Date from the Fundamentals of Astrodynamics and Applications by Vallado (4th Edition) p183.
My question is ...
3
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0answers
95 views
Can we calculate elliptical properties in a spherical coordinate system?
Can we calculate the elliptical properties like the semi-major axis and eccentricity using the state vectors (position and velocity) in the spherical coordinate system?
http://www.braeunig.us/space/...
5
votes
1answer
91 views
Trouble deriving rectangular components of acceleration of satellite in orbit around Earth with J2 consideration
I am trying to derive the rectangular components of acceleration for a satellite in orbit, with Earth oblateness in consideration, in order to use the RK4 method to find the updated position and ...
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vote
2answers
104 views
Properly calculating G-factor
This may sound rather simple, but I was told that technically, G-force readout should actually indicate zero-G on the earth's surface, as well as in a stable orbit. This is due to the fact that G-...
2
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2answers
200 views
Is a solar free-return trajectory possible?
I'm coining a new phrase: "Dyson circuit". Is it possible, with current solar orbital capabilities (see Parker Solar Probe), to drive artificial satellites in a free-return trajectory around the Sun?
...
6
votes
1answer
147 views
Calculation of V1 (orbital speed) during ascent
I am studying instrumentation of NASA's Orion spacecraft, and there is a readout for V1 (I am assuming this is the "first orbital velocity", for circular orbit), and it seems to be in small decimals. ...
2
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2answers
293 views
Orbit, circularizing, apogee/perigee
First - my question: After the orbit insertion, in the coast stage, and assuming perigee is out of the atmosphere, and neglecting any external forces and influences - is the orbit now "fixed"? As in, ...
5
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1answer
98 views
How to implement a relative motion STM without any numerical integration
I am trying to program the Gim-Alfriend state transition matrix. You can read all about it here. The GA STM is a complex analytical model that maps relative motion of a deputy satellite in a ...
2
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0answers
240 views
Use of thrusters for Collision Avoidance Maneuver
I'm building an orbit propagator that gives the position of two satellites at time T. The position are expressed in ECI and after that are being transformed in LVLH frame (as mentioned ECI to LVLH ...
2
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0answers
73 views
Help needed with obtaining position vector of Spacecraft in Heliocentric-Ecliptic frame
I have been now using the ephemeris table attached as an image. It gives the orbital elements of all planets on Jan 1 2000 calculated from Heliocentric-Ecliptic frame. The current planetary orbital ...
4
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1answer
125 views
Could you track small particles in space and could you control their position with lasers or reflected light?
If you released a large amount of small but precise particles (the size of glitter or confetti) is space, between a group of cube sats.
Could you track the particles with cameras and/or lasers?
And ...
10
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1answer
777 views
What are the practical uses of a state transition matrix?
I am studying different dynamical models of relative motion of satellites. In my work, I've always just used a numerical integrator like RK78 to integrate the cartesian system of equations:
$\dot{r}=...
3
votes
2answers
328 views
What liquids last the longest in space?
I am trying to find something that is somewhat stable as a liquid in space. What happens to various liquid elements and compounds in a vacuum? Is there a list or table of the effects of local space ...
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2answers
133 views
How does a Mars lander reach a chosen landing site?
I see lots of questions how landing sites are chosen, but none so far how these landing sites are reached.
It already looks like magic how the target planet can be reached at all, but when are ...
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1answer
216 views
Angular momentum in non inertial frame [closed]
How to express the angular momentum in non inertial Earth frame like Earth Fixed frame so that angular momentum is conserved ?
Is H = R x mV still valid when R and V are taken in the rotating frame ?
3
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1answer
778 views
Transformation between ICRF and Fixed in STK
I am building a satellite orbit propagator in MATLAB and I am using STK as a reference.
Comparing TwoBody propagator using RKN78 (MATLAB) with HPOP (degree 1, order 1), I am getting quite good ...
2
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0answers
407 views
How to find Near Rectilinear Halo Orbits (NHROs)?
Looking all the good questions and answers in this site referent to CR3BP dynamics, periodic orbits, state transition matrices, etc. I wonder:
what algorithm or steps do I have to follow to find the ...
2
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1answer
1k views
What is the amount of Delta-V required to enter lunar orbit following Trans-Lunar Injection?
How much do you need to decelerate in order to be captured into a stable lunar orbit from a Trans-Lunar Ejection or TLI-type trajectory?
2
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1answer
107 views
If a spacecraft is orbiting around the Moon, what direction would the nadir axis be?
Nadir for a craft orbiting the Earth would be radially in, is nadir always pointed towards the Earth or is it pointed towards the celestial body that the craft is orbiting?
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Russian Soyuz MS-09 Launch - back and forth rotation of the second stage (along the length axis). Precession?
In the ISS Expedition 56-57 Launch of Russian Soyuz MS-09, in the first view from the external camera at around 3:30, an obvious back and forth rotation (along the length axis) of the rocket can be ...
4
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2answers
236 views
Spacecraft Horizon Sensors for Lunar orbit
Recall that "traditional" horizon sensors for Earth missions utilize the IR wavelength regime since this can reveal a good contrast between the cold space and the warm Earth-limb edge.
If we were to ...
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0answers
49 views
Attitude and orbit thrusters catalog
Typically, when trying to adjust simulation parameters (of orbit control, attitude control...) to real world values in order to validate algorithms with comparisons with past and current mission ...
