Asri-unix.755
net.space
utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!ARPAVAX:C70:sri-unix!David.Smith@CMU-10A
Thu Feb 11 08:23:43 1982
Re: Orbital mechanix, please!
	Date: 11 February 1982 06:04-EST
	From: Robert Elton Maas <REM MIT-MC AT>
	Subject: Orbital mechanix, please!
	To: David.Smith at CMU-10A

	Your example rocket made an unnecessary orbit. You went from LEO to
	transfer orbit, let it come back to intersect with LEO again and
	back to GEO intersect a second time when you finally fired the
	rockets to maintain GEO. You could have fired them after half a
	transer-orbit instead of one-and-a-half and gotten the job done
	quicker and not had to pay your staff overtime.

I fully agree.  The reason I waited to fire the apogee kick motor
was to illustrate the orbital mechanics:  without further action,
the satellite will arrive back at the low-altitude, high-speed perigee.

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