Questions tagged [atmospheric-drag]

Questions regarding atmospheric drag which includes the resistance offerd by a moving object in fluid

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
0 votes
1 answer
165 views

Coupling satellites already in orbit reduce drag and debris?

How would 2 or more satellites be joined to reduce atmospheric drag? Could a 3rd satellite tow and join 2 or more satellites that are in similar orbits to prevent Kessler syndrome? At the very least ...
Muze's user avatar
  • 1
2 votes
0 answers
128 views

What would be payload capacity of reusable Falcon 9 if there was no atmosphere on Earth?

Reading this question and answers, I wondered what would happen if there was no atmosphere, everything else being the same on Earth. What would be the payload capacity to LEO of Falcon 9 in reusable ...
user721108's user avatar
  • 4,290
5 votes
1 answer
182 views

Maximum speed based on atmospheric altitude given maximum temp?

I saw the question Could escape velocity be achieved in the atmosphere? and thought it probably could've been asked better. I'm sure there's an equation to calculate the average heat generated by an ...
Magic Octopus Urn's user avatar
23 votes
2 answers
4k views

Why not increase contact surface when reentering the atmosphere?

If a craft were to increase the surface area where contact is made with air during reentry, I imagine the heat quantity per area unit would decrease, making the use of (heavy) heat shields less of a ...
Magix's user avatar
  • 605
1 vote
0 answers
79 views

Reducing the aerodynamic drag of multi-engined rockets: aft wake area

Have there ever been thoughts of reducing the aerodynamic drag that results from the empty space between rocket engines? More precisely, this extremely low-pressure area sucks up ambient air and ...
Everyday Astronaut's user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
203 views

Does the kinetic impact of gas particles cause erosion to the surface of objects in orbit?

When satellites or space stations orbit the Earth, they are constantly experiencing a low level of aerodynamic drag from Earth's atmosphere. The ISS needs to be reboosted every few months to account ...
Blake Walsh's user avatar
  • 4,221
2 votes
0 answers
202 views

Calculating the height and width of a rocket for drag

While messing around with making a little rocket launch simulator, I seem to have hit a slight wall with finding the relevant information in order to calculate the width and height of the rocket for ...
UndefinedUsername's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
502 views

What is typical lifetime of GTO rocket stages before reentry?

Most of geostationary satellites are launched at geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) first by rocket's upper stage. Than satellites separate and circularize the orbit by own propulsion. The upper ...
Heopps's user avatar
  • 9,051
7 votes
1 answer
1k views

At what altitude do the effects of atmospheric drag completely disappear?

The spate of K-questions got me thinking: At what point does atmospheric drag disappear1 with the pressure from sunlight, solar wind, or other forces becoming overwhelmingly dominant? I'm guessing it'...
Alex Hajnal's user avatar
  • 1,971
8 votes
1 answer
308 views

Which engine worked the hardest to keep the ISS in orbit?

The ISS has spent two decades fighting drag caused by its large size and huge solar panels pushing through the tail-end of Earth's atmosphere only a few hundred kilometers above its surface. Question:...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
4 votes
4 answers
321 views

Radioisotope thermoelectric generator behavior on reentry

The RTG has become a major source of power in places where solar power just wont cut it. but there has always been an issue with sending them into space. if the launch fails, radiation comes raining ...
TheCoolKidz's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
532 views

What are the causes of these episodes of faster than average altitude loss by the ISS?

@Cristiano's question No reboosts for the ISS shows the plot below. I don't have the original source. I've added some annotations including four arrows to indicate what looks like short periods (a day ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
6 votes
2 answers
368 views

Drawbacks and advantages of two slidable & rotatable control surfaces for BFS sized spaceships

BFS (SpaceX's Big Falcon Spaceship) is in development and has seen between 2016 and 2018 three major design modifications. January 2018 I asked here how BFS planned to manoever during aerobraking. ...
user721108's user avatar
  • 4,290
7 votes
2 answers
489 views

Orbital propagation: atmospheric drag

I'm developing the numerical orbital propagator. I've already implemented the Newtonian gravity (Earth, Sun, Moon), Earth harmonics, SRP and relativistic effect. The software is compared with GMAT ...
Leeloo's user avatar
  • 833
10 votes
2 answers
542 views

Why does in-flight mission abort often ends in ballistic high-g reentry?

I am seeing a lot of references to the “ballistic reentry” mode of the crew return vehicle in relation to the abort during the powered ascent stage. In partiulat, the recent crewed Soyuz MS-10 abort ...
kkm -still wary of SE promises's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
348 views

Did the Shuttle have a drag penalty for ascent with a negative angle of attack (AOA)?

@OrganicMarble's answer mentions Because the Orbiter wings developed lift at zero angle of attack, the high dynamic pressure portion of ascent had to be flown at a negative angle of attack, close ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
6 votes
1 answer
477 views

Could I use a satellite as a vehicle for delivering airborne leaflets?

Assuming I have a satellite in a decaying orbit, could I gently release leaflets from my satellite so they were on a near-identical sub-orbital trajectory and have them touch-down safely on the ground ...
James T's user avatar
  • 163
3 votes
1 answer
414 views

When a Saturn V reaches max Q, what fraction of the lengthwise structural load is due to drag rather than acceleration?

Ignoring all other structural loads besides the lengthwise compression of the rocket. This is useful to know when theorizing about whether high altitude launches (e.g. from airplanes) could ...
Jonathan Ray's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
73 views

How much higher is the wave drag for a spaceplane compared to its induced drag

I'm working on the conceptual design of the path of a suborbital spaceplane and am trying to do basic calculations. I read that wave drag near the sonic barrier can be huge and can impede the flight. ...
Rajath Pai's user avatar
  • 1,251
4 votes
0 answers
159 views

What was the ambient air density was there when/were Starman/Roadster first started playing Bowie's "Life on Mars"

When the Falcon Heavy test flight 2nd stage fairing opened at about 115 km, David Bowie started singing "Life on Mars". Okay, the Tesla Roadster's stereo started playing "Life on Mars", or at least ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
6 votes
1 answer
706 views

GMAT atmosphere

I am using GMAT to propagate satellite motion with Jacchia-Roberts atmosphere model. Here is a formula used from this model which is then used to estimate the variation in drag on a spacecraft due to ...
Alex Johnson's user avatar
16 votes
3 answers
2k views

How can an *increase* in atmospheric temperature cause an *increase* in the atmospheric mass density?

We often hear that heating Earth's atmosphere from solar activity or CMEs increases the mass density of the atmosphere at a given altitude, causing orbiting spacecraft to lose altitude faster from ...
Tom Spilker's user avatar
  • 18.3k
1 vote
1 answer
339 views

Atmospheric drag effect

While propagating the satellite motion faced the strange effect. Without the atmosphere results (x,y,z coordinates in meters and ...
Alex Johnson's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
395 views

Drag-only and gravity-only satellite orbit propagation, need help understanding the results

I'm trying to propagate the orbit of an Earth satellite. I've tried my calculation with gravity only (no drag), and also with drag only (no gravity). The gravity-only calculations work fine and ...
Raccoon's user avatar
  • 135
5 votes
1 answer
116 views

Would landing on mars during a storm considerably increase atmospheric drag?

Any chance we could harvest all those dust particles for an significant improvement in aero-breaking capabilities or would it destroy most heat-shields?
drandrul's user avatar
  • 658
2 votes
1 answer
660 views

Budgeting delta-v for atmospheric drag when orbit is elliptical?

I'm trying to calculate the delta-V budget to maintain a generic elliptical orbit. Looking at the atmospheric drag losses I can only find equations that calculate delta-V loss for circular orbits. ...
Capeboom's user avatar
  • 283
4 votes
1 answer
435 views

How stable is an orbit of 335.9 km?

Spacex has recently begun deployment of its satellite constellation that will provide internet services. In their initial filings with the FCC they propose that they may have over 7,000 VLEO (very low ...
David says Reinstate Monica's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
93 views

Applying secondary orbital perturbation effects

I read about secondary effects which influence on orbit propagation like solar radiation, moon, etc. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbit_modeling). First I calculate position vector Rpqw to object (...
Raccoon's user avatar
  • 135
2 votes
2 answers
178 views

Atmospheric drag vs. atmospheric heating. Which occurs first?

If I was in a circular 10km orbit (theoretical) around Earth, what will occur earlier? Will I burn up in atmosphere or be stopped by atmospheric drag?
JetFly's user avatar
  • 123
3 votes
1 answer
978 views

Modeling SpaceX's lift and drag versus angle of attack and Mach number

I've been trying to find data in the literature that would provide analytical expressions for the relationship between the lift and drag of an object similar in shape and size to the Falcon 9 first-...
InquisitiveInquirer's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
165 views

Would Mayak's large solar reflector have produced a stable attitude, or more likely start tumbling or rotating?

update: Answers to Two week mark; has Mayak (Маяк) been spotted yet? Reflector deployed? Astronomy “ruined”? indicate that the reflector did not deploy successfully (more at Mayak, a magnitude -10 (...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
8 votes
5 answers
557 views

ISS achieving lift by using it's solar panels

Can the ISS achieve any lift by using it's solar panels as 'wings' against the sparse atmosphere? My understand is they started moving the solar panels into a 'low drag' orientation when on the ...
Brooks Nelson's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
1k views

Why does Earth's atmospheric density have a big "knee" around 100 km? Is there a good analytical approximation?

I've used a quick very rough approximation of the drop of atmospheric density with altitude in this answer and in this answer by using a single exponential and scale height parameter, but that's not ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
4 votes
1 answer
1k views

What is the lowest altitude that an ion thruster can be used for station keeping?

What is the lowest altitude that an ion thruster can realistically be used for station keeping before its small amount of thrust is overcome by atmospheric drag? Please state your assumptions such as ...
Moobie's user avatar
  • 141
3 votes
1 answer
152 views

In what atmospheric densities or pressures have aerobrakings been performed?

How deep have spacecrafts gone into an atmosphere for doing aerobraking for orbital insertion (or as tech demos)? I suppose it is the braking force of the atmosphere that counts, is that closely ...
LocalFluff's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
208 views

Atmospheric influences on satellite imagery [closed]

I need to know if there's any relationship between the drag force of any point in LEO with the quantity of particles or something like that that are flying in the air that makes quality of the ...
Unnamed's user avatar
  • 111
16 votes
5 answers
8k views

Where can I find data for Atmospheric density vs. altitude?

I'm looking for information on atmospheric density in Earth orbit. All the atmospheric density tables and graphs I've found go no higher than 100 km. Definitions like the US Standard Atmosphere don't ...
Hobbes's user avatar
  • 127k
7 votes
2 answers
1k views

Shear forces between Shuttle, tank, and boosters - what pushes what?

This is the question that I should have asked here. The space shuttle and the two solid rocket boosters (SRBs) are mechanically attached to the giant tank. SRB's, shuttle, and tank all experience ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
1 vote
1 answer
873 views

How is max Q for the shuttle actually defined?

In this article about max Q https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Q the shuttle launch is discussed. Since there are four distinct large objects - two boosters, one shuttle and one giant tank - there ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
2 votes
2 answers
812 views

Rocket drag and lift based on flight direction - in which frame of reference?

Drag is aerodynamic force component parallel to the direction of motion. Lift is aerodynamic force component perpendicular to the direction of motion. Direction of motion with respect to what? 1) ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
7 votes
4 answers
3k views

Is aerodynamic lift ever useful in rocket flight?

When a rocket is traveling through an atmosphere, the component of the aerodynamic force in the direction of motion is called drag, and the component perpendicular to that is called lift. Usually a ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
3 votes
1 answer
7k views

What's the atmospheric drag coefficient of a Falcon 9 at launch (sub-sonic, large fairing)

While I said just a few hours ago that "There's almost no such thing as a dumb question! this one just might sound like one. I'm making some slides about first principles thinking applied to ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
3 votes
1 answer
295 views

Atmospheric drag at 250 km

I was watching the jcsat-14 launch, and I noticed the vehicle was slowly slowing down when 2nd stage engine was off even at 250+km. Is it because of atmospheric drag or pulling force of gravity?
dvdmn's user avatar
  • 425
9 votes
3 answers
5k views

Requesting an in depth explanation of heat created during atmospheric reentry,

What is(are) the root cause(s) of the heat and friction experienced during atmospheric reentry (or initial entry)? I understand that as items descend to earth they experience a force that can ...
Eliot G York's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
860 views

Could thermal energy be collected by dragging a thermoconductive device against the outer atmosphere

Atmospheric reentry is notoriously a difficult and HOT endevour. Could this thermal energy be used as an alternative energy source on earth? Could this be used through some sort of orbital charging ...
Eliot G York's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
2k views

How could a hot lander enter Titan's atmosphere without setting its hydrocarbons ablaze?

Whenever a lander enters an atmosphere, it generates a lot of friction and that heats up the heat shield. On Earth we have seen videos of spacecraft with red-hot shields. On Saturn's moon Titan, ...
Gabriel Fair's user avatar
  • 1,331
4 votes
1 answer
570 views

Can I use an ice cube as a re-entry heat shield?

A comment on recent popular question brought me to Stirring Tea and this entry To boil a cup of water, you'd have to drop it from higher than the top of the atmosphere. If that is true, in theory ...
James Jenkins's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
5k views

How can I estimate the Coefficient of Drag on a Saturn V rocket, a simulator or some data would be pretty awesome

I'm trying to get some information on this and its proving difficult as the information is usually acquired experimentally from what I've found. A single number at a specific altitude and speed would ...
Muneeb Khan's user avatar
15 votes
2 answers
7k views

What is the ISS drag?

ISS constantly loses altitude to air drag and other forces (tidal, electromagnetic). While finding that rate in the sources isn't that hard, with orbital mechanics of altitude loss actually increasing ...
SF.'s user avatar
  • 55k
1 vote
1 answer
300 views

Parachute on the ISS [closed]

If a large parachute were attached to the ISS, how long would it last? I know that there is very little atmosphere where the ISS orbits, but also that the atmosphere is thick enough that it needs a ...
soktinpk's user avatar
  • 119