slingshot maneuvers

[Chipstone306]

Question for everybody....Can a spacecraft use a asteroid for a slingshot maneuver? If so what does anyone thing would be the smallest size possible for a body to be effective in giving the gravitational push/pull needed

 

[Bj]

Question for everybody....Can a spacecraft use a asteroid for a slingshot maneuver? If so what does anyone thing would be the smallest size possible for a body to be effective in giving the gravitational push/pull needed

Sure it can, why wouldn't it?

all mass attracts each other so the only difference between a slingshot from a planet and a asteroid is that an asteroid weighs less so it would have less effect on the spacecraft. (to my knowledge) their hasn't been a slingshot around an asteroid yet...

 

[Chipstone306]

Second question.....

So a large manmade object could be used! like a very large space station! Is orbiter set up to use a large manmade object for a slingshot?

sorry but this question has been bothering me for a while

 

[Bj]

Second question.....

So a d a large manmade object coulb be used! like a very large space station! Is orbiter set up to use a large manmade object for a slingshot?

sorry but this question has been bothering me for a while

Well sure a large (very large) manmade object could be used, but I dont think orbiter is set up for something like that,

I think orbiter only has 'feels' gravity toward planets and moons...

but in real life it could, but man will still have to get that hudge amount of weight into space so they can sling shoot something...

 

[Chipstone306]

Thanks BJ!:speakcool:

 

[flytandem]

I suggest getting some experience gravity assisting the larger planets, then work your way to the smaller like Venus and Earth and then even smaller like Mars. After that if you want to play with even tougher smaller ones, try playing around with close passes of Phobos and Deimos to see how much they will affect the orbit around Mars. I would imagine it has about as much affect as trying to slow your car by rolling the window down and sticking a finger out into the airflow.

 

[Chipstone306]

I suggest getting some experience gravity assisting the larger planets, then work your way to the smaller like Venus and Earth and then even smaller like Mars. After that if you want to play with even tougher smaller ones, try playing around with close passes of Phobos and Deimos to see how much they will affect the orbit around Mars. I would imagine it has about as much affect as trying to slow your car by rolling the window down and sticking a finger out into the airflow.

thanks for the advice flytandem! ill try it out

about the car thing though...you haven't seen my car! rolling the window and sticking my finger out works at slowing the car!

 

[Bj]

thanks for the advice flytandem! ill try it out

about the car thing though...you haven't seen my car! rolling the window and sticking my finger out works at slowing the car!

whats your car? do you have a pic of it? :huh:

 

[Chipstone306]

whats your car? do you have a pic of it? :huh:

Ill have to find one to post !

its a k car!

 

[Bj]

Ill have to find one to post !

its a k car!

you meen this one;

:rofl:

 

[Bj]

Its weird how at the start of this post we where talking about slingshots, and at the end about what car chip has :lol:

 

[Chipstone306]

yes yes yes:lol:
back to slingshot maneuvers.....

has nasa ever planned on an asteroid slingshot to ds ?

 

[Bj]

yes yes yes:lol:
back to slingshot maneuvers.....

has nasa ever planned on an asteroid slingshot to ds ?

I haven't seen anything, I have only seen speed boosts from multiple probes, but beyond that...
:search:

 

[NukeET]

thanks for the advice flytandem! ill try it out

about the car thing though...you haven't seen my car! rolling the window and sticking my finger out works at slowing the car!

As long as you don't have to use the "Fred Flintstone" method of stopping it!:threadjacked:

 

[flytandem]

whats your car? do you have a pic of it? :huh:

It's not the car, I suspect it's the finger.:blink:

 

[Kendo]

Forget the Slingshot crap, lets talk about the awsome car :sorry:

 

[agentgonzo]

yes yes yes:lol:
back to slingshot maneuvers.....

has nasa ever planned on an asteroid slingshot to ds ?

Not that I know of. As mentioned above, an asteroid will affect the path of the probe, but only slightly. There are two features of a planet that affect how good it will perform at giving a gravitational slingshot: mass and speed. Jupiter and Saturn are good as they are very massive, and Venus and Earth are good as they are moving quickly. Mars isn't that good as it is both slow and not very massive.

As the asteroid belt lies in a region beyond Mars, the asteroids are moving slower than Mars so will be less useful. Combine this with the fact that the mass of the entire asteroid belt is roughly 0.45% of the mass of Mars, with Ceres (the largest asteroid) being ~0.14% the Mass of Mars and you get to a pretty weedy slingshot.

 

[Chipstone306]

Back to the subject of cars here is a pic


and thanks for the info about slingshot maneuvers

 

[Andy44]

yes yes yes:lol:
back to slingshot maneuvers.....

has nasa ever planned on an asteroid slingshot to ds ?

NASA currently has a mission on it's way to Vesta and Ceres, it's called Dawn. The objective of the mission is to first orbit Vesta and then to break orbit and transfer to Ceres, where it will settle into its final orbit, all using ion thrusters.

These missions are not "slingshots" as we know them, but the gravity of these bodies and any other nearby asteroids will have to be integrated into the trajectory calculations or else the vehicle will not be able to navigate accurately.

Asteroids have pissweak gravity so using one for a traditional gravity assist would probably be a waste of time and propellant, but if passing near an asteroid changies your velocity by even a small amount you have to account for it.

 

[n0mad23]

I've been digging through my literature for a couple of days in preparation of answering your thread, but can't seem to find what I'm looking for.

So I'm relying on memory here, and might be a bit off.

I believe that Galileo probe was directed to both Ida and Mathilde for a gravity assist as it passed through the asteroid belt. The big shock there was how little mass Mathilde has, which of course was the beginning of the remodeling of the theory of asteroids. Instead of being solid rocks, as previously believed, most of the larger ones are now considered to be rubble heaps. So much for the old novels where the rocks were hollowed out, set into rotation, and turned into colonies.