Jump to content
Main menu
Main menu
move to sidebar
hide
Navigation
Main page
Recent changes
Random page
Help about MediaWiki
Special pages
Niidae Wiki
Search
Search
Appearance
Create account
Log in
Personal tools
Create account
Log in
Pages for logged out editors
learn more
Contributions
Talk
Editing
Interplanetary spaceflight
(section)
Page
Discussion
English
Read
Edit
View history
Tools
Tools
move to sidebar
hide
Actions
Read
Edit
View history
General
What links here
Related changes
Page information
Appearance
move to sidebar
hide
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
===Fuzzy orbits=== Computers did not exist when [[Hohmann transfer orbit]]s were first proposed (1925) and were slow, expensive and unreliable when [[Gravity assist|gravitational slingshots]] were developed (1959). Recent advances in [[computing]] have made it possible to exploit many more features of the gravity fields of astronomical bodies and thus calculate even [[Low energy transfer|lower-cost trajectories]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/gravitys-rim | title=Gravity's Rim | publisher=discovermagazine.com | access-date=2023-04-12 | archive-date=2019-10-22 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022002414/http://discovermagazine.com/1994/sep/gravitysrim419 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Belbruno |first=E. |date=2004 |url=http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/titles/7687.html |title=Capture Dynamics and Chaotic Motions in Celestial Mechanics: With the Construction of Low Energy Transfers |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691094809 |access-date=2007-04-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141202074354/http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/titles/7687.html |archive-date=2014-12-02 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Paths have been calculated which link the [[Lagrange points]] of the various planets into the so-called [[Interplanetary Transport Network]]. Such "fuzzy orbits" use significantly less energy than Hohmann transfers but are much, much slower. They aren't practical for human crewed missions because they generally take years or decades, but may be useful for high-volume transport of low-value [[commodity|commodities]] if humanity develops a [[space-based economy]].
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to Niidae Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see
Encyclopedia:Copyrights
for details).
Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Search
Search
Editing
Interplanetary spaceflight
(section)
Add topic