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Why is my apoapsis/periapsis prediction obtained by sgp4 so inaccurate?
Published: May 22, 2025 00:19
I wanted to use sgp4 to predict the apoapsis and periapsis as well as the orbital energy. Since I obtain the velocity vector as well as the position vector of sgp4, I should be able to get the orbital energy out of the velocity with $$ \epsilon =…
Was the Celestial Intermediate Pole aligned with the z axis of the GCRF at Epoch (Jan. 1st, 2000)?
Published: May 21, 2025 16:34
As the title goes. Was there ever an alignment of the z axis with the CIP at Epoch, and then CIP started to precess away. Or was there always an offset between the two.
How was fuel crossfeed achieved, between the main tank and the Shuttle?
Published: May 21, 2025 15:34
Whenever a fan of Kerbal Space Program mentions the super-efficient 'asparagus staging' in any professional context, the automatic response is 'That won't work. KSP fuel pipes are pure magic.' The idea of 'asparagus staging' is that external boosters of…
When the space shuttle's external tank was jettisoned, was the orbiter-side plumbing capped?
Published: May 21, 2025 13:06
This question is specifically motivated by reentry and the risk an open main-propellant pipe might represent. It has two parts: Did the plumbing from the external tank to the main engines pass through the thermal protective tiles? Were there mechanisms in…
Effects of Precession and Nutation on the pole of the ICRF
Published: May 20, 2025 18:33
The z axis of the ICRF frame is aligned with the rotation axis of Earth at J2000. This axis shouldn't change, since it is based on a specific Epoch. But, based on what some forums/information I have come across, the poles of the ICRF is aligned with the…
Does a planet need an ozone layer to maintain an atmosphere?
Published: May 20, 2025 16:32
Is it possible to build an atmosphere on Mars without an ozone layer? What would trap the gas? Also what is an ozone layer made of?
what C/C++ image processing libraries are used on-board satellites/rovers?
Published: May 19, 2025 20:00
Given that a full blown linux is rarely used in spacecrafts, can popular image processing libraries like opencv be use in space applications? Since radiation hardened processors are much less capable than recent processors, can real time image processing…
Harvesting Venus' atmosphere to Terraform Mars
https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/46168/harvesting-venus-atmosphere-to-terraform-mars
Published: May 19, 2025 06:59
Since Mars has such a thin atmosphere, to terraform we would need massive amounts of Nitrogen. Would it make sense to import it from Venus? Also since Venus' atmosphere is mostly CO2, and we can make O2 from CO2, could we just import O2 as well? That…
Why were the images from DART encode in a way that cropped the last one the way it did?
Published: May 19, 2025 03:10
The last image from DART only includes about the top ⅒ of the image, but that portion of the image is in full quality. That suggests that the image encoding/compression is mostly a raster encoding. Off hand this seems to me like a rather odd choice. It…
What are topocentric (ground station) frames like ENU (East/North/Up) and SEZ (South East Z/Up) generally referenced to?
Published: May 19, 2025 03:10
@ChrisR's answer to "GMAT: Is there a way to specify an ENU frame centered on a satellite?" is illuminating, but now I'm wondering: Are topocentric (ground station) frames like ENU (East/North/Up) and SEZ (South East Z/Up) referenced to the WGS84…
GMAT: Is there a way to specify an ENU frame centered on a satellite?
Published: May 18, 2025 20:19
That's the question! I tried to create a topocentric frame, centered on a satellite, but got the following error: CoordinateSystem exception: The origin for a Topocentric Coordinate System must be a BodyFixedPoint Unfortunately, that's the only way I…
Why does periapsis distance alternate between two sinusoidal patterns?
Published: May 18, 2025 18:33
I'm playing around with a model solar system using the REBOUND library and I believe it is working correctly. For fun I created a planet (earth-mass) and moon (0.025 earth-masses) in a binary orbit with a period of about 2.5 months and an eccentricity of…
Why did they put the Webb at L2 instead of giving it its own solar orbit independent of Earth?
Published: May 17, 2025 22:38
You have to spend energy to stay at L2. Solar orbit (like between Earth and Mars) is stable. I originally thought it was so it could stay in Earth's shadow. Was it so they could keep it close to Earth for high-bandwidth communication or a refuel mission?
Could JWST stay at L2 "forever"?
https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/35404/could-jwst-stay-at-l2-forever
Published: May 16, 2025 15:31
Using only reaction wheels powered by solar panel and the sunshield as a sail (in continuous active attitude control) to generate thrust from solar photon pressure in the desired direction, could JWST stay in its orbit around L2 "forever" (theoretically at…
If something "falls off" the L2 or L1 point, where will it go?
Published: May 16, 2025 15:25
The L1 and L2 points are thought to be unstable "saddle" points, meaning that there is stability in two directions of movement, but not in the other. That raises an obvious question - when a spacecraft stationed there diverges toward either side of the…
What is the required burn to keep a satellite at a Lagrangian point?
Published: May 16, 2025 15:20
When a satellite reaches a Lagrangian point, it has a non-zero velocity $v_1$ because of the transfer orbit in which it had already been. What burn, say, $\Delta v$, one needs if the satellite is about to be kept at that Lagrangian point? Given velocity…
Why would spacecraft docking to the ISS have a different atmospheric pressure?
Published: May 16, 2025 05:45
In the SpaceX Demo 2 Crew Dragon livestream, they had to equalize pressure between the ISS and the Dragon spacecraft. The voice on the stream said that they were bringing it to levels that match Earth's. What is the pressure in the Dragon if not exactly…
Does NASA ever plan crewed missions without a free return trajectory?
Published: May 16, 2025 03:59
Because the mission was launched on a free return trajectory, the crew of Apollo 13 survived. Has that abort option ever been foregone in any mission that flew or was seriously planned? (A free return trajectory is one that will allow a ship to return to…
In Search of Thermal HRSI Tile Location on Elevons
https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/68354/in-search-of-thermal-hrsi-tile-location-on-elevons
Published: May 15, 2025 16:53
I am hoping that someone still has access to the database or has tile diagrams that could help locate the exact spot of the following tiles: V070-193009-434 V070-193013-346 All I know is that they are from the elevons. Any help (including orbiter name) is…
How do we know the Apollo Moon landings are real?
https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/28172/how-do-we-know-the-apollo-moon-landings-are-real
Published: May 14, 2025 22:00
Since about 1976, conspiracy theories denying the Moon landing and claiming it was all faked have cropped up. As a website devoted to answering questions about space exploration, we receive questions about this idea regularly. In order to spare the…
Any closer up on how the heel sliders on the boots on the spacex suits work? Also any elaboration on the in ear earphones?
Published: May 14, 2025 19:25
https://hackaday.com/2021/04/06/iss-astronaut-shows-off-spacexs-stylish-spacesuit/ I also found that in ear earphones are worn inside the helmet to make communication two way since the helmet has build in twin microphones.
GMAT 2025a Mac Light/Dark Mode Issue
https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/68352/gmat-2025a-mac-light-dark-mode-issue
Published: May 14, 2025 17:54
I keep my Mac on dark mode, but I've noticed that when I try to run GMAT 2025, the side bar shows white text on a white bar. It fixes itself when I set my computer to light mode, but I thought this was weird. Anyone run into this/have a fix?
Space rocket payload by inclination
https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/13306/space-rocket-payload-by-inclination
Published: May 14, 2025 14:14
I know that near the equator where the inclination is 0° it is easier to put payloads to low earth orbit because of the advantage of rotation speed of earth which saves more fuel. Saving more fuel means more fuel for the payload, so you can burn longer…
Is there one critical size to impact Earth at terminal velocity from low Earth orbit?
Published: May 14, 2025 01:40
Assuming many spherical solids of varying diameter in circular very low Earth orbit (doomed to deorbit soon), all made out of similar homogeneous material that withstands atmospheric entry heating, hypothetical density 1g/cm3. Only varying parameter…
Is there wood on this Soviet Venus probe, shown in an archival photo?
Published: May 13, 2025 05:45
The BBC's May 10, 2025 Soviet-era spacecraft 'likely' to have re-entered Earth's atmosphere there is a file photo of what is reportedly some Soviet probe bound for Venus but not Kosmos 482. Is it just me, or does it look like a very nice wood grain pattern…
Advantages and disadvantages of astronauts of different ages [closed]
Published: May 12, 2025 21:58
As far as I know younger people are more sensitive to radiation and older people less so. Does that mean as old as reasonably possible is best for astronauts or might younger astronauts have any advantages over older ones?
What's the largest rocket that was carried to space inside a Space Shuttle?
Published: May 12, 2025 21:08
Why did the Ulysses probe reach Jupiter much faster than Galileo? got me wondering about the largest rocket that was carried to space inside a Space Shuttle. Largest in terms of some performance metric, perhaps total impulse, not dimension.