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  2. Spacecraft flight dynamics - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacecraft_flight_dynamics

    A space vehicle's flight is determined by application of Newton's second law of motion: =, where F is the vector sum of all forces exerted on the vehicle, m is its current mass, and a is the acceleration vector, the instantaneous rate of change of velocity (v), which in turn is the instantaneous rate of change of displacement.

  3. Spacecraft attitude determination and control - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacecraft_attitude...

    A spacecraft's attitude must typically be stabilized and controlled for a variety of reasons. It is often needed so that the spacecraft high-gain antenna may be accurately pointed to Earth for communications, so that onboard experiments may accomplish precise pointing for accurate collection and subsequent interpretation of data, so that the heating and cooling effects of sunlight and shadow ...

  4. Orbital mechanics - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_mechanics

    Orbital mechanics is a core discipline within space-mission design and control. Celestial mechanics treats more broadly the orbital dynamics of systems under the influence of gravity, including both spacecraft and natural astronomical bodies such as star systems, planets, moons, and comets.

  5. Spacecraft attitude control - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attitude_control_system

    A spacecraft's attitude must typically be stabilized and controlled for a variety of reasons. It is often needed so that the spacecraft high-gain antenna may be accurately pointed to Earth for communications, so that onboard experiments may accomplish precise pointing for accurate collection and subsequent interpretation of data, so that the heating and cooling effects of sunlight and shadow ...

  6. Gravity turn - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_turn

    The guidance program is a precalculated lookup table of pitch vs time. Control is done with engine gimballing and/or aerodynamic control surfaces. The pitch program maintains a zero angle of attack (the definition of a gravity turn) until the vacuum of space is reached, thus minimizing lateral aerodynamic loads on the vehicle.

  7. Aerospace engineering - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerospace_engineering

    In response to the USSR launching the first satellite, Sputnik, into space on October 4, 1957, U.S. aerospace engineers launched the first American satellite on January 31, 1958. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was founded in 1958 after the Sputnik crisis. In 1969, Apollo 11, the first human space mission to the Moon, took

  8. Slew (spacecraft) - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slew_(spacecraft)

    The slew of a spacecraft is its orientation in reference to a plane or fixed position such as Earth, the Sun, another celestial body or other point in space. When moving to assume such an orientation, the spacecraft is slewing. [1] [2] [3] During spaceflight, a craft's attitude must be controlled for reasons depending on the craft's mission ...

  9. Control moment gyroscope - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_moment_gyroscope

    A control moment gyroscope (CMG) is an attitude control device generally used in spacecraft attitude control systems. A CMG consists of a spinning rotor and one or more motorized gimbals that tilt the rotor’s angular momentum. As the rotor tilts, the changing angular momentum causes a gyroscopic torque that rotates the spacecraft. [1] [2]