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Re: [Phys-l] Rocket Science



Before there were Astronauts, there was Science Fiction,
and stories in this genre sometimes mentioned the
difficulty of matching orbits for transfer by attempting to speed up.
(though seldom the difficulty of traveling FTL.)
Not surprising I suppose with Asimov et al. writing in this spirit.

:-)

Brian


At 05:25 AM 7/26/2006, you wrote:
You can't rendezvous this way. It was proven by one of the
astronauts early on in the Gemini program. His fighter pilot
training said to accelerate and you'll catch up to the other craft,
but he just got farther away.

Remember you are on a conic section, and adding a delta V will just
put you into a different orbit -- a Hohmann transfer. A rendezvous
is a more complicated maneuver. I suggest the book "Understanding
Space" by Jerry Jon Sellers to understand the problem and to work out
the solution.

Peter Schoch


Brian Whatcott Altus OK Eureka!