Spacecraft orbit
Hi all, the question of what orbit actually represents and what the physics behind it is, has intrigued me in the past. I a sorry to say that like a lot of folk , I assumed that if you go to a sufficiently high attitude, you eventually get into space and become weightless and can then float merrily to the Moon , or Mars or where ever you please . In fact, I read a novel which was about balloon astronauts travelling between planets whose atmospheres actually interlocked , without the planets ever colliding. Okay, that's ridiculous, but never the less, you do often have space vehicle ideas with similar ideas cropping up.
Now, I hope I know better. Achieving orbit is certainly involves a sustained breaking of Earths gravitational pull. The object seeking to attain orbit around the Earth must generate sufficient force to neutralise the Earths gravitational pull , preferrably beyond Earths atmosphere. Using today's technology, this definitely requires brute force, to quickly attain altitude, and thereby less drag, before then translating the forward momentum and engine power of the vehicle into lateral velocity to generate sufficient centrifugal force to keep the vehicle from falling back into the Earth. For a vehicle weighing many tonnes, this requires enormous velocity, and massively powerful engines
This is a very simplistic take on orbit. We will be exploring this topic in greater detail
Hi all, the question of what orbit actually represents and what the physics behind it is, has intrigued me in the past. I a sorry to say that like a lot of folk , I assumed that if you go to a sufficiently high attitude, you eventually get into space and become weightless and can then float merrily to the Moon , or Mars or where ever you please . In fact, I read a novel which was about balloon astronauts travelling between planets whose atmospheres actually interlocked , without the planets ever colliding. Okay, that's ridiculous, but never the less, you do often have space vehicle ideas with similar ideas cropping up.
Now, I hope I know better. Achieving orbit is certainly involves a sustained breaking of Earths gravitational pull. The object seeking to attain orbit around the Earth must generate sufficient force to neutralise the Earths gravitational pull , preferrably beyond Earths atmosphere. Using today's technology, this definitely requires brute force, to quickly attain altitude, and thereby less drag, before then translating the forward momentum and engine power of the vehicle into lateral velocity to generate sufficient centrifugal force to keep the vehicle from falling back into the Earth. For a vehicle weighing many tonnes, this requires enormous velocity, and massively powerful engines
This is a very simplistic take on orbit. We will be exploring this topic in greater detail