When a shuttle is launched into space, what is the optimum launch angle needed to escape gravity most effectively? Do we shoot for a perpendicular angle from the ground, but gravity causes a curve of the shuttle's path before it leaves the atmosphere? Or do we shoot for more of an acute angle from the ground in order to correct the effect of gravity and accomplish a perpendicular angle from the ground?
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I would think that a perpendicular launch is the preferable option. To escape gravity, you would want the upwards component of the intial velocity to be maximum, which is achieved by aiming the shuttle straight up.
Grasshopper: I was wondering the same thing myself (although orbit is not the same as escaping gravity...)
I googled for the answer using "shuttle+launch+angle" as the search terms and found this page on why the shuttle performs the roll maneuver
A quick visit to wikipedia and some old star trek dialogue (orbital mechanics) got me to this rather detailed and lengthy entry on orbital mechanics showing many of the maths used in that field.
eccefeles: You are correct in saying
I googled for the answer using "shuttle+launch+angle" as the search terms and found this page on why the shuttle performs the roll maneuver
A quick visit to wikipedia and some old star trek dialogue (orbital mechanics) got me to this rather detailed and lengthy entry on orbital mechanics showing many of the maths used in that field.
eccefeles: You are correct in saying
To escape gravity, you would want the upwards component of the initial(sic.) velocity to be maximum, which is achieved by aiming the shuttle straight up.
However straight up will lead to straight down once the propellant on the orbiter is depleted. To maintain orbit one needs a horizontal acceleration in combination with the vertical acceleration. To this end I'm linking another wikipedia article but on space mathematics where the formulae to determine optimal launch angle are posted. You can plug in some numbers for yourself and see what happens.
QUOTE
When a shuttle is launched into space, what is the optimum launch angle needed to escape gravity most effectively?
I googled for the answer using "shuttle+launch+angle" as the search terms and found this page on why the shuttle performs the roll maneuver
A quick visit to wikipedia and some old star trek dialogue (orbital mechanics) got me to this rather detailed and lengthy entry on orbital mechanics showing many of the maths used in that field.
eccefeles: You are correct in saying
QUOTE (->
| QUOTE |
| When a shuttle is launched into space, what is the optimum launch angle needed to escape gravity most effectively? |
I googled for the answer using "shuttle+launch+angle" as the search terms and found this page on why the shuttle performs the roll maneuver
A quick visit to wikipedia and some old star trek dialogue (orbital mechanics) got me to this rather detailed and lengthy entry on orbital mechanics showing many of the maths used in that field.
eccefeles: You are correct in saying
To escape gravity, you would want the upwards component of the initial(sic.) velocity to be maximum, which is achieved by aiming the shuttle straight up.
However straight up will lead to straight down once the propellant on the orbiter is depleted. To maintain orbit one needs a horizontal acceleration in combination with the vertical acceleration. To this end I'm linking another wikipedia article but on space mathematics where the formulae to determine optimal launch angle are posted. You can plug in some numbers for yourself and see what happens.
HybridST:
Yes, I seem to have, once again, misinterpreted and overly simplified the question. My solution does in fact correspond only to the part of the launch aimed at getting the shuttle into space, but not what happens afterwards.
Thanks for pointing it out.
Yes, I seem to have, once again, misinterpreted and overly simplified the question. My solution does in fact correspond only to the part of the launch aimed at getting the shuttle into space, but not what happens afterwards.
Thanks for pointing it out.
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