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The Oberth effect is used in a powered flyby or Oberth maneuver where the application of an impulse, typically from the use of a rocket engine, close to a gravitational body (where the gravity potential is low, and the speed is high) can give much more change in kinetic energy and final speed (i.e. higher specific energy) than the same impulse ...
The Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) is a system of hypergolic liquid-propellant rocket engines used on the Space Shuttle and the Orion spacecraft.Designed and manufactured in the United States by Aerojet, [1] the system allowed the orbiter to perform various orbital maneuvers according to requirements of each mission profile: orbital injection after main engine cutoff, orbital corrections ...
This will change the shape of its orbit, causing it to gain altitude and actually slow down relative to the leading craft, missing the target. The space rendezvous before docking normally takes multiple precisely calculated engine firings in multiple orbital periods, requiring hours or even days to complete.
The diagram shows a Hohmann transfer orbit to bring a spacecraft from a lower circular orbit into a higher one. It is an elliptic orbit that is tangential both to the lower circular orbit the spacecraft is to leave (cyan, labeled 1 on diagram) and the higher circular orbit that it is to reach (red, labeled 3 on diagram).
Delta-v (also known as "change in velocity"), symbolized as and pronounced /dɛltə viː/, as used in spacecraft flight dynamics, is a measure of the impulse per unit of spacecraft mass that is needed to perform a maneuver such as launching from or landing on a planet or moon, or an in-space orbital maneuver.
The delta-v required is the vector change in velocity between the two planes at that point. However, maximum efficiency of inclination changes are achieved at apoapsis, (or apogee), where orbital velocity is the lowest. In some cases, it can require less total delta-v to raise the satellite into a higher orbit, change the orbit plane at the ...
A spacecraft's attitude must typically be stabilized and controlled for a variety of reasons. It is often needed so that the spacecraft high-gain antenna may be accurately pointed to Earth for communications, so that onboard experiments may accomplish precise pointing for accurate collection and subsequent interpretation of data, so that the heating and cooling effects of sunlight and shadow ...
A limitation of constant acceleration is adequate fuel. Constant acceleration is only feasible with the development of fuels with a much higher specific impulse than presently available. There are two broad approaches to higher specific impulse propulsion: Higher efficiency fuel (the motor ship approach).