[AZ-Observing] Re: HST/Shuttle Sighting Opportunities
- From: <saguaroastro@xxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 10:28:47 -0700
Made the cardinal sin of overquoting, so if you get this twice , apologies.
Rick
---- saguaroastro@xxxxxxx wrote:
> Dick,
>
> I'd imagine that that is correct. To get from the ISS to the HST would
> require two really big burns. As Tom P pointed out the difference in orbital
> inclination is 24 degrees. They first have to make a plane change burn which
> for that large an inclination difference would probably not be possible given
> the amount of fuel on board the Shuttle. Then they have to make the transfer
> burn, which also would be fuel intensive.
>
> It would be possible to combine the burn, but the geometry would have to be
> perfect and most likley would not occur all that often. Essentially the burn
> would need to occur at one of the orbital nodes and the target would need to
> be in the proper position for rendevous at that specific moment.
>
> So it's gotta be one or the other.
>
> The 28 degree inclination of teh HST wasn't chosen just to make things
> difficult. Gievn the higher orbit, launching due east from the Cape would use
> the least amount of fuel to orbit and result in an inclination equal to the
> lattitude of the launch site. The XM radio sats were launched from the middle
> of the Pacific Ocean right on the Equator to take advantage of the earths
> rotational speed and get them into the proper equatorial orbit.
>
> If anyone wants to have a whack at playing with orital mechanics try the
> freeware prgram "orbiter"; http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/. It's a great
> spaceflight simulator, although it does have a pretty high learning curve.
>
> Rick
>
>
> ---- Richard Harshaw <rharshaw2@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Good question. Last night on the Science Channel, they ran a 1-hour show on
> > the final repair mission and said that the shuttle cannot carry enough fuel
> > to dock with the ISS and still reach Hubble orbit, that they would have to
> > do a manual inspection for tile damage before flying up to Hubble's orbit.
> > Did I hear that right?
--
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