This chapter discusses the basic problem of orbital mechanics, namely when the spacecraft is acted upon by the gravity of a much larger spherical body, such as a planet, a moon, or the Sun. The motion of two spherical bodies under mutual gravitational attraction is the primary problem of orbital mechanics, and can be solved analytically. Since such a motion obeys the laws of planetary motion first discovered by Kepler, two‐body orbital mechanics is also termed Keplerian motion. The chapter shows that a constant angular momentum results in a planar two‐body motion, and rectilinear and circular orbits are special shapes of Keplerian trajectories. A further classification of Keplerian trajectories can be derived from the constant eccentricity vector. The orbital velocity vector is typically resolved in a moving coordinate frame with its origin at the centre of the orbiting mass and having mutually perpendicular axes along the radial direction and the circumferential direction.


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    Title :

    Keplerian Motion


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2021-02-01


    Size :

    27 pages




    Type of media :

    Article/Chapter (Book)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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