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One starts with a high accuracy value for the position (x, y, z) and the velocity (v x, v y, v z) for each of the bodies involved. When also the mass of each body is known, the acceleration (a x, a y, a z) can be calculated from Newton's Law of Gravitation. Each body attracts each other body, the total acceleration being the sum of all these ...
Newton defined the force acting on a planet to be the product of its mass and the acceleration (see Newton's laws of motion). So: Every planet is attracted towards the Sun. The force acting on a planet is directly proportional to the mass of the planet and is inversely proportional to the square of its distance from the Sun.
The blue planet feels only an inverse-square force and moves on an ellipse (k = 1). The green planet moves angularly three times as fast as the blue planet (k = 3); it completes three orbits for every orbit of the blue planet. The red planet illustrates purely radial motion with no angular motion (k = 0).
where is the semimajor axis of the planet's orbit relative to the Sun; and are the masses of the planet and Sun, respectively. This simplification is sufficient to compute rough estimates of fuel requirements, and rough time-of-flight estimates, but it is not generally accurate enough to guide a spacecraft to its destination.
Orbital mechanics or astrodynamics is the application of ballistics and celestial mechanics to the practical problems concerning the motion of rockets, satellites, and other spacecraft. The motion of these objects is usually calculated from Newton's laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation.
Data may be based on each planet's geometric center or a planetary-system barycenter. The use of Chebyshev polynomials enables highly precise, efficient calculations for any given point in time. DE405 calculation for the inner planets "recovers" accuracy of about 0.001 seconds of arc (arcseconds) (equivalent to about 1 km at the distance of ...
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In astrodynamics, an orbit equation defines the path of orbiting body around central body relative to , without specifying position as a function of time.Under standard assumptions, a body moving under the influence of a force, directed to a central body, with a magnitude inversely proportional to the square of the distance (such as gravity), has an orbit that is a conic section (i.e. circular ...