Mankind’s destiny is amongst the stars. Space based industries such as asteroid mining could become the largest industries in the world with annual profits in the trillions of dollars within our lifetime. For any type of travel or work to be possible in space, an understanding of orbital mechanics is crucial.
In space, all objects are in orbit of something. Satellites both manmade and natural orbit planets and moons. Moons orbit planets. Planets orbit stars, and stars orbit the center of galaxies. An orbit is the elliptical path an object follows when affected by gravitation. Basically that means that gravity from a big object such as a planet, pulls a smaller object, such as an asteroid, towards it, and as a result, the asteroid circles it. Why do objects in orbit circle the body that they are orbiting instead of just falling into it? Satellites do fall into the bodies that they are orbiting, but they are moving at such a high velocity, that they miss the object and are pulled around in an ellipse. To do so, objects must move extremely fast. An object in low Earth orbit must move extremely fast. The equation to find orbital velocity is v_orbit=√(rg_orbit ) meaning orbital velocity equals the square root of the orbital radius times the acceleration of gravity at that orbit. All systems with an object moving in uniform circular motion have two basic parts: a satellite velocity in a straight line, and a centripetal force pulling the linear velocity vector into a circle. The International Space Station orbits at an altitude of 460km and has an orbital velocity of 7.7km/s. That is about the length of the Mackinac Bridge in one second.
It is a common misconception that there is no gravity in space. In fact, there is gra...
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... Any steeper, and the crew would be crushed by the G forces. That’s an error window of only 2.4 degrees. On top of the danger in the precision required, there is also the risk that the spacecraft could have been weakened sometime in the mission and could be torn apart by the intense deceleration. Or the heat shield could have been damaged and the spacecraft could burn up.
Orbital mechanics might seem a bit overwhelming at first. It can seem counterintuitive and at times appears downright insane. I didn’t even touch the intense math involved in calculating the exact angles and timing in which maneuvers must happen. Or hoe the net result of every move affects the calculations of an entire mission. It is after all rocket science. However, if we are to move forward as a species and spread out from the fragile ball of earth, it is a skill that we need to master.
There are many theories that all the planets and other space rocks in the solar system orbit around the sun and follow the orbiting route due to the sun’s gravitational force keeping them in course. According to Sir Isaac Newton’s first law “An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an unbalanced force. An object in motion continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.” This law is often called "the law of inertia". This is why these planets don’t go severely of course due to the consistent gravitational field the sun is providing. The Kuiper belt and the Asteroid belt are where most of the space rocks, also known as asteroids; orbit along and many stay together because they are part of the s...
Johannes Kepler was a German astronomer and mathematician ho discovered that planetary motion is elliptical. Early in his life, Kepler wanted to prove that the universe obeyed Platonistic mathematical relationships, such as the planetary orbits were circular and at distances from the sun proportional to the Platonic solids (see paragraph below). However, when his friend the astronomer Tycho Brahe died, he gave Kepler his immense collection of astronomical observations. After years of studying these observations, Kepler realized that his previous thought about planetary motion were wrong, and he came up with his three laws of planetary motion. Unfortunately, he did not have a unifying theory for these laws. This had to until Newton formulated his laws of gravity and motion.
In order to avoid being hit by space debris, scientists developed the collision avoidance technique. They are also looking for ways to remove the debris from Earth's orbit. Most importantly, tracking these objects is key to solving all the problems. The amount of space junk accumulates daily due to the high volume of junk-to-junk collisions.
----------. Space 2000: Meeting the Challenge of a New Era. New York: Plenum Press, 1987.
Whenever we watch movies about space, the movie tends to influence our perspective of what is out there in space and how things work. Because of people’s lack of knowledge, it is easy for them to accept what the movies or pictures present to them. Therefore, there are many misconceptions in astronomy of how things really work out in the universe. In Neil Comens’ book, Heavenly Errors, he pinpoints over 1600 misconceptions! For example, many people have several different theories of how the moon changes shape every night or why the stars twinkle in the night time sky.
(Gothard and Rosen 1). Gravity is the attraction of a physical body in the universe in relation to all other bodies, and the relation to the inverse square law. The inverse square law is defined as any point spreading infinitely and equally in both directions. Gravity is prevalent in real life when an object is dropped; the body is attracted to the surface it hits...
(Source K) Flowers, Sarah. “Understanding: Space Travel.” Rev. of Understanding: Space Travel. PoQuest. N.p., Aug. 2000. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. .
Of all these spacecraft only about 900 are operational and all of the rest are space debris. This population of satellites and rocket bodies’ account for about 99% of the debris orbiting the Earth are estimated to be around 5000 metric tons. There are more than 20,000 pieces of debris larger than a softball orbiting the Earth. This debris can travel at speeds up to 17,500 mph. Even a relatively small piece of space debris can damage a satellite or a spacecraft at these speeds.
Imagine a world in which all of life’s problems could all just go away at the click of a button. A world where every individual on the face of planet earth is being watched 24/7, therefore eliminating any possibility of a crime being committed. Imagine, if just for a moment, a world where everyone and everything are connected by the same network, which would in essence create a full and complete circle. This is the world that serves as the setting for Dave Eggers novel The Circle. The Circle is a novel about Mae, the young and enthusiastic protagonist, who gets a job at a company known as The Circle. The Circle is a revolutionary company that is creating all sorts of new and exciting technology that appear to benefit the human race as a whole.
Space exploration can lead to the possibility to find useful resources throughout the galaxy for human gain. Many severe problems on earth could be solved through space exploration such as world hunger, overpopulation, and dwindling fuel sources. Things such as fuel could be harvested from planets for power generation and propulsion technology, and land to cultivate for growing food, as well as land for building living areas for the growing population. These potential resources...
Space has always been a pivotal and utmost important subject for many years. In the past, scientists have made monumental advances in this field such as sending people into orbit and landing a man on the moon. Of course, this has only barely been explored and we still have a lot more to see of the ever-vast outer space. One of the most significant topics of all of science has only been touched and there’s still more to come.
“Sheltered as we are by Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field, which deflect lethal radiation from space, we are like coddled children who have never ventured into a tough neighborhood” (Folger 2). Humans have been fascinated with space since the beginning of our time. Just like children and rough neighborhoods, we have tackled obstacle over obstacle to make it home again. In the end, we have a better knowledge and strength than before. The future of space exploration can assist us in answering the everlasting question of how the universe came to be. The more we explore the infinite galaxies, the more we can scientifically discover and create new technologies as science advances. As we continue to discover, we can create new fields and occupations for aspiring young students like myself.
Gravity is the force that pulls two objects together, and the mass of the human body depends on gravity. The more the mass there is, the amount of the gravitational force will increase. The study of the Earth’s gravitational field itself is complex and deeply fascinating. Likewise, studying its relation to the human body makes it even more thought provoking. A gravitational field is simply the area of space neighboring a body that has another body experiencing a gravitational attraction force. As human beings and just general species, our state in Earth is not the same as it is up in the atmosphere or another planet. Unfortunately, the term “gravity” is thrown around futilely these days, but in this essay you will learn its purpose in our Earth, and all the notions that go along with it.
Space debris is the collection of useless objects in orbit around Earth. It includes all from erosion, spent rocket stages, old satellites, collisions, and fragments from disintegration. A large number of technical studies are currently developing concepts of active removal of space debris to protect space assets from on orbit collision. Since orbits overlap with new spacecraft therefore debris may collide with operational spacecraft.
According to NASA, more than 500,000 pieces of debris, or “space junk,” are tracked as they orbit the Earth- just hundreds of miles above us. Space junk-which is also known by the names space and orbital debris, are made up of a mixture of natural (meteorites) and man-made materials that no longer serves a further purpose or function.