From the earth, the ecliptic plane is defined by the apparent motion of the sun about the earth. Determined by the location of eclipses (hence the name).

Because the orbital plane is immovable in inertial space, the spacecraft stays in the same orbit. But you’re fixed to Earth and as it rotates to the east, you move away from the orbit, making it …

Orbiting spacecraft are subject to a variety of environments. Knowledge of the orbit is required to quantify the solar, albedo and planetary (also called outgoing longwave radiation, or OLR) …

The classic orbital elements include two elements to locate the plane of the orbit in space, two to describe the size and shape of the orbit, one to orient the orbit in the plane, and the last to …

The most common type of in-plane maneuver changes the size and energy of an orbit, usually from a low-altitude parking orbit to a higher-altitude mission orbit such as a geosynchronous orbit.

It can be useful to express the orbit inclination i and RAAN as a Ω function of the B-plane angle and aerocapture plane rotation ψ φ performed. For this derivation, we introduce the coordinate …

Orbital mechanics is the study of motion of space objects (natural or anthropogenic). From Satcom perspective, it will help you to answer the following questions: Where is a particular …