Questions tagged [orbital-maneuver]

In spaceflight, an orbital maneuver is the use of propulsion systems to change the orbit of a spacecraft.

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How to determine the best method for Maneuver Detection?

Some context to my question is after reading Vallado, (Fundamentals of Astrodynamics and Applications 5th edition), Chapter 10.11.1 brushes really quickly on the subject. To quote it, "Most ...
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At which direction do you apply thrust to perform an inclination change maneuver?

Assume that the vehicle is already at the orbital node. No combined plane changes are included. At which direction is the thrust applied to do an inclination change maneuver? So far, Google hasn't ...
Anonymous's user avatar
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What Δv is needed to reach LEO from a space elevator?

In two recent questions about space elevators, the topic of reaching non-geostationary orbits came up, particularly the popular Low Earth Orbits. This question is simply about how hard exactly it is ...
leftaroundabout's user avatar
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What is the delta V required to access a polar lunar orbit?

The general reference figure (I use) for entering a low lunar orbit (polar included) is ~900 m/s, which is roughly what was set out in previous questions. However NASA released this white paper which ...
Barry Jenakuns's user avatar
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To go from LEO to LLO describe a Bi-elliptic/Hohmann transfer burn sequence?

Being a newbie, I humbly submit the following question : How to minimize the energy (in terms of delta-v burns) to transfer a mass of 1 metric ton (1000kg) from Very Low Earth Orbit (say 200km above ...
C. Burns's user avatar
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I want to write a program to calculate optimal trajectories, where can I find info on the maths

I want to write a program to calculate the optimal way for a spacecraft with a given engine to reach some body astronomical body with the minimum fuel burn (possibly adding in constraints on time, ...
Pioneer_11's user avatar
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What speed could you achieve by slingshotting around earth from moon?

Imagine Apollo 13 had fuel to burn engines on the way back to earth but instead used earths gravity to accelerate and the slingshot around earth
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Deorbit ISS vs. Preserve ISS as raw materials for ISM?

Recent news: NASA Seeks Proposals from US Industry for Station Deorbit Spacecraft (ISS) NASA has released a request for proposal from U.S. industry for the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle (USDV), a spacecraft ...
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When you burn retrograde, will you reach periapsis sooner or later?

Say you have two spacecraft in identical orbits. Say at a point after apoapsis and before periapsis one of the spacecraft burns retrograde to lower its periapsis, and the other spacecraft does nothing ...
DTCantReachSpace's user avatar
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Do all artificial satellites have engines?

Novice question. A few days ago I watched a TV documentary about Virgin Orbit’s failed mission earlier this year to send satellites into orbit from Spaceport Cornwall. One of the satellites shown ...
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In MATLAB, Computing a new TLE/orbit following a delta-v impulse?

I have already worked on this project for a week, and I still can not solve this problem by myself. How can I update data for the SGP4 OrbitPropagator in Matlab's ...
Achilles chan's user avatar
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How often does a CubeSat leverage its ADCS?

I'm wondering how often an Earth observation-focused CubeSat (6U - 27U) would leverage its onboard Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS). Would it be employing its ADCS to optimize every ...
spacegr33q's user avatar
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How do i correctly calculate the ellipse that illustrates the orbit of an object in space based on initial state values (r0, v0, deltat, and mu)

I'm working on a game that has a primary UI showing the solar system in a top-down (earth's north pole being roughly 'up'). And I have a need to show a semi-realistic path of travel for an object ...
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Circularization of an orbit on gmat

I'm using Gmat to turn to zero the eccentricity of an orbit around Mars with an electric thruster. I modeled the initial orbit, introduced the engine, the tank and the solar arrays and created the ...
Francesco's user avatar
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Are there any studies about "ping pong" cyclers between gas giants?

Imagine arriving at Saturn, jettisoning your passenger cargo, and then utilizing the massive gravitational pull of the gas giant to slingshot back towards Jupiter. Due to the immense mass of these ...
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How heavy is an orbital pogo stick?

Moving people from a A to B in space often requires a significant change in velocity, requiring propellant eating into the mass budget. But most of this propellant is "wasted" in moving a ...
SE - stop firing the good guys's user avatar
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What is the relationship between the radius of the Hill sphere and escape velocity?

I'm currently working on a video game that will make use of a heavily simplified patched-conic model of the Solar System. I was wondering about some discrepancies between my own calculations as well ...
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Why does the point of burn on an orbit stay at a constant altitude?

I am having trouble understanding why the current location you are at in an orbit remains unaffected when performing an orbital maneuver. As an example, if I want to raise the apoapsis of my orbit (...
learningmath12345's user avatar
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Eccentricity changes of an orbit during out-of-plane burns

I am learning about Space exploration and I have the following question: Does the eccentricity of the orbit remain unchanged during a manoeuvre that is perpendicular to the orbital plane?
FalconHeavy321's user avatar
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How can you calculate a Hohmann transfer orbit but ending at the same orbit with a time difference between orbits?

How can you calculate a Hohmann transfer orbit but ending at the same orbit, just having changed the time?
Giol Vinyals i Roca's user avatar
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Are there any proposals for propulsive debris deorbiting which address basic requirements for efficiency?

This illustration shows many of the challenges using propulsive deorbiting: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/34_aug2017-cleaning-up-space-junk-180963932 The trust line of the tug is ...
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Eutelsat 13G and Spacebus NEO's all-electric propulsion

Today, Eutelsat's Hotbird-13G was launched by a Falcon 9 to a "geosynchronous transfer orbit". Deployment was at an altitude of roughly 1100 km. The satellite must reach a geosynchronous ...
Peter - Reinstate Monica's user avatar
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2 answers
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What is the optimum space junk to target for deorbiting?

The danger posed by space debris depends on the debris' mass, ballistic coefficient and orbit. For a given mass of debris, a single large mass (like an intact dead satellite) poses a much smaller risk ...
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What is the fuel cost of deorbiting a kilo of space junk?

Removing debris from LEO requires a significant delta-V which most schemes propose to accomplish via rocket propulsion. Source The ratio of launch fuel to payload mass is often given as 9:1 for LOE. ...
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Does Juno have enough fuel to push itself into a more elliptical orbit reaching out to Himalia? [duplicate]

Does the Juno probe have enough fuel to push itself into a highly elliptical orbit around Jupiter so that its apojove would be at Himalia's orbital distance to study Himalia better? Would a gravity ...
Nullnummer's user avatar
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How would I or who/what could help me find the trajectory of an "Extended Grand Tour" spacecraft, without having to take a long course on the subject?

(As forewarning, the most integral details of this question are bolded.) For context, I have been writing an alternate history involving the accelerated development of spaceflight technology for over ...
Grant Hartlage's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
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Commencing atmospheric re-entry

Once a decision is taken to get back home (earth), a spacecraft, I think has two options: 1 - To reduce its speed (by firing the thrusters located in the forward or something similar), so that it is ...
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Is there any orbital launcher capable of removing the second stage from orbit after inserting the payload satellite into LEO?

The Space Shuttle was able to place a satellite into orbit and to return to Earth. Is there any second stage that may deliver the payload satellite into LEO and do a deorbit burn after that using its ...
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How would I calculate the extra change in velocity due to residual thrust?

I'm trying to script a hover slam in a simulated environment using generic kinematic equations to calculate the correct throttle values I should be matching. I cut the throttle of my engine when my ...
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Can JWST come in for a pit stop? Is the fuel supply on JWST adequate for a transfer to an Earth Moon libration point to allow repairs?

The James Webb Space Telescope is generally considered to be in an unserviceable location at SEL2. If servicing becomes necessary, is it possible for the JWST to use a low energy heteroclinic transfer ...
Woody's user avatar
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Why did Curiosity perform TCMs?

Why did Curiosity perform TCM (Trajectory Correction Maneuver)s 1 through 5? 6 makes sense since it needed to adjust course to actually once in the SOI, but the others don't. I understand that this ...
Starship - On Strike's user avatar
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1 answer
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What maneuvers could be useful to move between two sun synchronous orbits with different times?

Consider two sun-synchronous orbits with similar orbital elements, except for their times. For example 8h and 9h orbits. Their semi-major axes (a), inclinations (i), and eccentricities (e) are the ...
pathfinder_EOS's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
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Targeted Sub-Orbital Optimization Problem

I was messing around with some orbital dynamics for a simulator I am working on, and I came across a snag that I have not been able to figure out. Specifically, I am trying to minimize the required ...
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How do satellites ensure they are orientated towards the Earth to allow of clear connections? [duplicate]

As the title says, How do satellites ensure they are orientated towards the Earth to allow of clear connections, whilst having their solar panels face the sun? I understand reaction wheels are ...
Connor's user avatar
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1 answer
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Given an initial orbit calculate the necessary maneuver impulse to obtain a required final eccentricity and semi-major axis

The question is simple. Starting from an eccentric orbit I want to obtain a final orbit of which the final semi-major axis and the final eccentricity are known. You would have to determine the boost ...
Juan Antonio's user avatar
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Parameters of the L2 insertion burn to be done tomorrow

What parameters control the impulse to be applied in the L2 insertion burn? What parameters control when/where it is to be performed? What velocity is the impulse applied to achieve? Is the vehicle ...
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What was the first spacecraft intentionally moved from GEO to the graveyard orbit to die? (just a bit above geosynchronous)

Why “super” for supersynchronous orbits? Why not “trans”? and discussions and answers there got me wondering: Question: What was the first spacecraft intentionally moved from GEO or geosynchronous to ...
uhoh's user avatar
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James Webb orbit insertion

Webb will issue a final course correction burn to insert it into the orbit around L2. It arrives from earth so the approach velocity should be higher than the desired orbit velocity and the vector ...
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What are the benefits of supersynchronous transfer orbits?

Some satellites are injected into higher apogee than standard GTO apogee of 35 786 km. Next the satellite then has to increase its perigee ( usually 250 km ) to GEO altitude. Then the apogee has to be ...
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Are VASIMR + Arcjet engines feasible for orbital transfers on Mars?

The VASIMR engine is an electric propulsion system that has been lauded for its ability to cut down on interplanetary transfers. While it requires a high power source (in the range of 200kW), it is a ...
FontFamily's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
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What is the delta v required for insertion to sun-earth L2?

What is the delta v required to place a satellite in L2 from earth transfer orbit ( Like the James Webb Telescope )? Does orbits closer to L2 different delta v from orbits far from L2?
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What is the largest single burn plane change maneuver executed in LEO?

Below 2000 km in low Earth orbit (or close to it), what is the largest propulsive plane change from a single burn? Expecting an answer in degrees, a named mission and vehicle executing the burn itself....
uhoh's user avatar
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What is the equation that relates delta v of a rocket to time taken to complete an orbit?

I wanted to see how the delta-v produced by a rocket affects the time it takes to complete a certain orbit. So what is the equation that relates these two quantities?
Ryan's user avatar
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How much delta-v could be saved with a Hohmann-like transfer orbit to the aphelion of Mercury 's orbit instead of its perihelion?

I wrote "Hohmann-like" of course because Mercury's orbit is rather eccentric and has an inclination of 7 ⁰. From this factsheet I've learned that perihelion is at 46 million km and aphelion ...
Cornelis's user avatar
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4 votes
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How to calculate an initial impulse for escape from planet's sphere of influence and lay on a specific orbit around the Sun?

I have a spacecraft parked on orbit around the planet. I want to make interplanetary transfer to another planet. I can find the orbit around the Sun that I can use to move from the end of departure ...
Robotex's user avatar
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Do operational Starlink satellites run their ion engines at night on batteries? And if so, do they have hi/low settings?

Discussion below What is the maximum thrust of the Starlink satellites? raise the question of the Starlink communications satellites' power budget and use of their ion thruster in daylight when the ...
uhoh's user avatar
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5 votes
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What types of propulsion are used to adjust an orbit?

What types of propulsion are used to adjust the orbit of an object such as a satellite, space station, supply vehicle? I'm curious if they all use the same method to adjust their trajectory, or if ...
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During orbital rendezvous, at what distance and approach velocity does the transition from orbital mechanics to “boating around” occur?

During the intercept (terminal) phase of orbital rendezvous, the intercepting spacecraft must use Proportional Navigation or Orbital Mechanics to develop an intercept course: all that counterintuative ...
Woody's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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Pure orbit inclination changing, why delta v differs between vector and numerical approach?

as said in the title I have different results between numerical en vector approach during inclination changing maneuver. The initial orbit : Perigee radius : 6700 km Eccentricity : 0.7 Inclination : ...
sl20's user avatar
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Does other orbital parameters change on plane alignment impulsive maneuver?

I work on small application to apply impulsive maneuver on an orbit. I want to align two orbits in the same plane. After the execution of the function, original orbit has the same inclination and ...
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