Questions tagged [orbital-maneuver]
In spaceflight, an orbital maneuver is the use of propulsion systems to change the orbit of a spacecraft.
39 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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What is Tiangong-2 doing?
Some news in various outlets following some twitterings including this tweet by Jonathan McDowell about Tiangong-2 performing a sizeable orbit-lowering, followed by a re-raising: OK now that's ...
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Why doesn't SpaceX know how long orbital maneuver burns will take?
While listening in on today's Crew Dragon 1 rendezvous, I noticed something interesting: the announced duration for the final coelliptic burn was "25 to 35 seconds". And this wasn't just a ...
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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 ...
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Is there a known solution for optimal impulsive transfer between two arbitrary elliptical orbits?
If not, what optimization methods or tools do people use? (Code libraries?)
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How many burns does it take to reboost the ISS?
When the International Space Station is given a reboost, how many burns are performed? Is it a Hohmann transfer orbit, with one perigee burn and one apogee burn? Or is it one burn at apogee just to ...
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How do I calculate the change in the argument of periapsis after a plane change maneuver?
Let's say I have a spacecraft in an initial geocentric orbit with the following parameters: a = 7,960,000 m, e = 0.010, $\Omega$ = 180$^{\circ}$, i = 98$^{\circ}$, $\omega$ = 90$^{\circ}$, $\theta_0$ =...
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Proper handling of terminal guidance of finite burn closed-loop execution for rendezvous conditions?
I'm writing some software which uses Optimal Control Theory / Calculus of Variations / Pontrayagin's Minimum Principle / Primer Vector Theory to do closed-loop execution of finite burns (in KSP). ...
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Mean motion as indication for satellite (evasion) maneuvers
I am interested in detecting satellite maneuvers, e.g., to avoid collissions. As far as I understand the best publicly available data comes from TLEs although they have their own problems. What is the ...
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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 ...
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What engine burn/thrust could be used for satellite longitudinal change?
If you wish to change the longitude (but not the inclination) of a satellite in Low Earth Orbit, what kind of maneuvers could you use? I am no expert, but let's say ISS or Hubble would like to stop "...
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Transfer between circular orbits in up to 5 maneuvers
There are 2 circular orbits with different inclination and RAAN. I have to transfer from a specific point (true anomaly given) of one orbit to a given point of another in 1 month. The period of the ...
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Quantitatively, how deep are the stable equilibrium points in GEO? How much delta-v needed to move from one to the other?
This answer discusses a spacecraft in GEO using a two-impulse (circular → elliptical → circular) raise & lower maneuver to move (phase) itself by 180 degrees in longitude then return to synchrony. ...
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What orbital maneuver(s) did the SOHO have to execute for halo orbit insertion?
I started, but did not complete, Classical Mechanics as an undergraduate, decades ago so I will not understand a highly technical answer. I am writing a novel where an astronaut needs to execute HOI (...
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Will SpaceX ever be able to launch Starlink Satellites from Boca Chica?
Starlink satellites have orbital inclinations of 43 to 97.6 degrees (but 60% of the satellites orbit at 53*). Launch corridors in the US are over open water to avoid danger to those of us on the ...
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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 ...