Gravity Assist
How the spacecrafts travels so long distance in solar system and beyond the solar system with less propellant mass (fuel) ? when travelling among the planets, it's a good idea to minimize the propellant mass needed by your spacecraft and its launch vehicle. That way, such a flight is possible with current launch capabilities, and costs will not be prohibitive. The amount of propellant needed depends largely on what route you choose. Trajectories(path) that by their nature need a minimum of propellant are therefore of great interest.
Overcoming gravity is all about velocity. Escaping Earth's gravity requires approximately 25,000 mph. Escaping the Solar System needs more than 45,000mph. We don't have a large enough rocket to achieve that speed so spacecraft can use a planets gravity to increase its velocity and then the planet can "slingshot" it onto a new trajectory toward the next target. The gravity of a large object can "pull" something to a higher velocity and then, rather than crash into the object, the craft can just miss the planet or moon and, for a moment, go into orbit. The centripetal force of the orbit will increase the craft's velocity and "shoot" it off on a new trajectory.It's called Gravity Assist.
Overcoming gravity is all about velocity. Escaping Earth's gravity requires approximately 25,000 mph. Escaping the Solar System needs more than 45,000mph. We don't have a large enough rocket to achieve that speed so spacecraft can use a planets gravity to increase its velocity and then the planet can "slingshot" it onto a new trajectory toward the next target. The gravity of a large object can "pull" something to a higher velocity and then, rather than crash into the object, the craft can just miss the planet or moon and, for a moment, go into orbit. The centripetal force of the orbit will increase the craft's velocity and "shoot" it off on a new trajectory.It's called Gravity Assist.
Normally, it would take almost twenty-four years to get from the Earth to Pluto.That’s travelling at about 17,000 mph.Gravity assist can cause the spacecraft to speed up/speed down or change the direction without firing the rockets in the space. With the use of the gravitational slingshot around as many planets as possible, that time could be cut in half and that speed could be increased by upwards of 5000%. For instance, the New Horizon’s craft is using only the gravitational assist from Jupiter and is managing speeds of over 32,000 mph. If we used the full potential of something as large as the sun, that speed could be increased to over 1.1 million mph. There are comets that do it, so there is nothing that could stop a shuttle from doing the same thing.
How Gravity assist works ?
to be continued....
