The following interesting equations were sent by Antonin Vitek on SeeSat-L. > > If RCS is indicative of true cross-sectional area, drag force > increases with > > RCS. > > But the EFFECT of the force decreases with more mass of the > affected object. > > Exactly speaking (in equations): > spacecraft decelaration is given as > > a = (1/2).cx.(A/m).rho(h).v.v My question is: do the dots (.) means multiplication? > where cx - aerodynamic coefficient (depending on shape of object) > A - effective cross-sectional area of spacecraft > m - mass of spacecraft > rho(h) - atmospheric density at given height h > v.v - velocity (squared) > > For a circular orbit with major semiaxis a, the change (decay) of > semiaxis per orbit is given as > > delta a = -2.PI.cx.(A/m).rho(h).a.a > > Consequences: for spacecraft of silimilar shape the decay is > proportional to the A and inversely proportional to the m (PI is > Ludolph > number, 3.14159265....) ------------------------------ Jonathan T. Wojack tlj18@juno.com 39.706d N 75.683d W http://www.angelfire.com/stars2/projectorion 4 hours behind UT (-4) ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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