Difference between revisions of "Aerobraking"
(Created page with "'''Aerobraking''' is a technique to lose velocity after reaching a planet. Usually when you enter the sphere of influence of a planet, your relative speed to it will be much ...") |
(*it costs fuel to raise the periapsis out of the atmosphere; *try to get rid of the “you”;) |
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| − | '''Aerobraking''' is a technique to lose velocity after reaching a | + | '''Aerobraking''' is a technique to lose velocity after reaching a celestial body. |
| − | Usually when | + | Usually when the craft enters the sphere of influence of a celestial body, the relative speed to it will be much too high to enter an orbit, unless burning retrograde and expending a lot of fuel. In order to save the fuel, the craft can either perform a [[Tutorial: Gravity Assist|gravity assist]] or perform an aerobraking maneuver. |
| − | To perform an aerobrake, | + | To perform an aerobrake, it must orbit a celestial body with an atmosphere and the trajectory need to leads through this atmosphere. instead of burning retrograde the atmospheric drag will slow the craft down to lower the apoapsis and hopefully enough to reach an eccentric orbit around. After the apoapsis is lowered to the wanted altitude it is necessary to raise the periapsis outside the atmosphere to prevent additional aerobraking maneuvers. |
| − | Aerobraking is a dangerous maneuver. When | + | Aerobraking is a dangerous maneuver. When the craft dips too deep into the atmosphere, it will lose too much speed and risk crashing. When it doesn't dip deep enough, it might not lose enough speed to enter an orbit. Usually it is better to be careful, because even when the orbit turns out to keep it just barely in the SoI of the planet, the orbit allows it to perform additional aerobreaks to slow it down more. For the ideal height for an aerobrake maneuver, consult the article about the planet. |
The following planets and moons have an atmosphere which allows aerobraking: | The following planets and moons have an atmosphere which allows aerobraking: | ||
Revision as of 21:21, 11 March 2013
Aerobraking is a technique to lose velocity after reaching a celestial body.
Usually when the craft enters the sphere of influence of a celestial body, the relative speed to it will be much too high to enter an orbit, unless burning retrograde and expending a lot of fuel. In order to save the fuel, the craft can either perform a gravity assist or perform an aerobraking maneuver.
To perform an aerobrake, it must orbit a celestial body with an atmosphere and the trajectory need to leads through this atmosphere. instead of burning retrograde the atmospheric drag will slow the craft down to lower the apoapsis and hopefully enough to reach an eccentric orbit around. After the apoapsis is lowered to the wanted altitude it is necessary to raise the periapsis outside the atmosphere to prevent additional aerobraking maneuvers.
Aerobraking is a dangerous maneuver. When the craft dips too deep into the atmosphere, it will lose too much speed and risk crashing. When it doesn't dip deep enough, it might not lose enough speed to enter an orbit. Usually it is better to be careful, because even when the orbit turns out to keep it just barely in the SoI of the planet, the orbit allows it to perform additional aerobreaks to slow it down more. For the ideal height for an aerobrake maneuver, consult the article about the planet.
The following planets and moons have an atmosphere which allows aerobraking:
