Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

internetworkers - [internetworkers] Re: No conspiracy, just a Columbia/NASA re- entry decision question

internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org (Joey O'Doherty)
  • Subject: [internetworkers] Re: No conspiracy, just a Columbia/NASA re- entry decision question
  • Date: Mon, 03 Feb 2003 17:37:37 -0500

Yeah, they'll have different speeds. It's actually quite easy to show
this if you assume a circular orbit-- you set the force due to gravity
equal to the force of tension ("centripital force"). Thus,

G*M*m/(r^2) = (m*v^2)/r ==> v = sqrt((G*M)/r) where,

G: gravitational constant
M: mass of earth
m: mass of satellite
r: radius between satellite and center of earth
v: velocity of satellite

If we assume a elliptical orbit we find that,

v = sqrt(G*M*((2/r)-(1/a)))

where a is the semi-major axis of the elipse. This second result is
left as an excercise for the reader. :)

/joeyo (B.S. Physics)


Parker, David X wrote:
> As demonstrated by a great little gadget at the Museum of Life and Science,
> which I've never been able to master, getting the shuttle to meet up with
> the space station isn't as easy as just pulling up to a parking space.
> They're both orbiting the earth at different altitudes and (not sure about
> this) different speeds. When they want to send the shuttle to the space
> station they have to time the launch just right, or the two will miss each
> other by thousands of miles.
>
>From another AA (Armchair Astronaut),
>
> - Dave P.
>
>
>>----------
>From: Greg Cox
>>Reply To: internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org
>>Sent: Monday, February 3, 2003 1:46 PM
>>To: Internetworkers List
>>Subject: Re: [internetworkers] Re: No conspiracy, just a
>>Columbia/NASA re-entry decision question
>>
>>
>>>I believe the Columbia was never equipped to dock with the ISS. This
>>>was mentioned along with the Columbia being the heaviest of the
>>>shuttles, since it was the first fully-operational unit, and the
>>>following ones were made lighter.
>>>
>>>Is the ISS in a higher-orbit than the Shuttles normal reach? Perhaps
>>>the Columbia was not able to reach it at all...
>>
>>http://ltp.arc.nasa.gov/space/ask/parts/Shuttle_Modifications_for_IIS_Flig
>>hts.txt
>>
>>would answer this, but it's not responding. The cached version:
>>
>>http://216.239.57.100/search?q=cache:vvWPpzC_xV0C:ltp.arc.nasa.gov/space/a
>>sk/parts/Shuttle_Modifications_for_IIS_Flights.txt+columbia+iss+docking+or
>>bit+%2Bheavier&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
>>
>> or
>>
>>http://tinyurl.com/5a16
>>
>>
>>Also, just a guess: I'll bet it could reach it for rendezvous, if they
>>jettisoned payload and expended deorbit-burn fuel to get there. But,
>>that'd be committing them to a stay, with no re-entry capabilities.
>>Armchair astronauting.
>>



--
pub 1024D/B663781B 2001-11-13 Joey O'Doherty <joey(at)odoherty(dot)net>
Key fingerprint = F76B 9ACA 4197 C707 6E4D 2B78 E430 101A B663 781B





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page