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The principles of flight dynamics are used to model a vehicle's powered flight during launch from the Earth; a spacecraft's orbital flight; maneuvers to change orbit; translunar and interplanetary flight; launch from and landing on a celestial body, with or without an atmosphere; entry through the atmosphere of the Earth or other celestial body ...
"Sky Lift" is a science fiction short story by Robert A. Heinlein, first published 1953. In the story, a torchship pilot lights out from Earth orbit to Pluto on a mission to deliver a cure to a plague ravaging a research station. [12] Tau Zero, a hard science fiction novel by Poul Anderson, has a spaceship using a constant acceleration drive.
The thrust-to-weight ratio varies continually during a flight. Thrust varies with throttle setting, airspeed, altitude, air temperature, etc. Weight varies with fuel burn and payload changes. For aircraft, the quoted thrust-to-weight ratio is often the maximum static thrust at sea level divided by the maximum takeoff weight. [2]
If speed decreases, drag decreases, and the aircraft will accelerate back to its equilibrium speed where thrust equals drag. However, in slow flight, due to lift-induced drag, as speed decreases, drag increases (and vice versa). This is known as the "back of the drag curve". The aircraft will be speed unstable, because a decrease in speed will ...
When an engine thrust or propulsive force is present, Newton's laws still apply, but Kepler's laws are invalidated. When the thrust stops, the resulting orbit will be different but will once again be described by Kepler's laws which have been set out above. The three laws are: The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the foci.
This small steering maneuver is the only time during an ideal gravity turn ascent that thrust must be used for purposes of steering. The pitchover maneuver serves two purposes. First, it turns the rocket slightly so that its flight path is no longer vertical, and second, it places the rocket on the correct heading for its ascent to orbit. After ...
Constant-thrust and constant-acceleration trajectories involve the spacecraft firing its engine in a prolonged constant burn. In the limiting case where the vehicle acceleration is high compared to the local gravitational acceleration, the spacecraft points straight toward the target (accounting for target motion), and remains accelerating ...
Unlike using a thrust-impulse to instantaneously change the velocity of the spacecraft, in non-impulsive transfer, there is a continuous application of thrust, so that, the spacecraft changes its direction gradually. Non-impulsive transfers relies on the low-thrust propulsion for the operation.