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The orbital plane of a revolving body is the geometric plane in which its orbit lies. Three non-collinear points in space suffice to determine an orbital plane. A common example would be the positions of the centers of a massive body (host) and of an orbiting celestial body at two different times/points of its orbit.
It is boosted into space by a launch vehicle, then re-enters Earth's atmosphere and lands as a spaceplane. The X-37 is operated by the Department of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, in collaboration with United States Space Force, [1] for orbital spaceflight missions intended to demonstrate reusable space technologies.
Orbital mechanics is a core discipline within space-mission design and control. Celestial mechanics treats more broadly the orbital dynamics of systems under the influence of gravity , including both spacecraft and natural astronomical bodies such as star systems , planets , moons , and comets .
An orbital spaceflight (or orbital flight) is a spaceflight in which a spacecraft is placed on a trajectory where it could remain in space for at least one orbit. To do this around the Earth , it must be on a free trajectory which has an altitude at perigee (altitude at closest approach) around 80 kilometers (50 mi); this is the boundary of ...
It is boosted into space by a launch vehicle, then re-enters Earth's atmosphere and lands as a spaceplane. The X-37 is operated by the Department of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, in collaboration with United States Space Force, [21] for orbital spaceflight missions intended to demonstrate reusable space technologies.
The mini space plane was built by Boeing and measures about 29 feet long. Like NASA’s space shuttles, the X-37B is designed to return to Earth and land on a runway.
The reference plane is assumed to be the xy-plane, and the origin of longitude is taken to be the positive x-axis. k is the unit vector (0, 0, 1), which is the normal vector to the xy reference plane. For non-inclined orbits (with inclination equal to zero), ☊ is undefined.
The X-37B space plane is one of the US military’s most intriguing and secretive projects. The spacecraft will hitch a ride on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket no sooner than Tuesday.