• Etterra@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    23
    ·
    2 months ago

    Huh. I would have thought that once they break orbit that the sun’s gravity well would do the heavy lifting pulling.

      • kamen@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        That one’s been sitting unplayed in my library for a very long time. I guess it’s time to give it a shot.

        • snugglesthefalse@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          2 months ago

          And if you want more complicated orbital mechanics there’s a ksp mod: Principia which adds n-body orbital mechanics over ksp’s relatively simple patched conic orbital simulation.

    • Daxtron2@startrek.website
      cake
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      19
      ·
      2 months ago

      “Breaking orbit” still leaves you in almost the same orbit around the sun as the earth. You need to slow down a lot to bring the periapsis of the orbit within the suns surface.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      18
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      Imagine that you’re standing on a train and have a baseball. If you throw the ball off the train, the ball will still have momentum in the direction of the train’s movement.

      If you want to throw the ball to a friend the train just passed, you have to be able to throw the ball faster than the train is moving or it will never reach them.

      • Deepus@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        2 months ago

        Now all im imagineing is a ball floating mid air and it’s beautiful

        • jokersteve@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          2 months ago

          Mythbusters did this! (Well, the ball fell to the ground, but for a split second it looked like it was hovering after being shot out of a cannon.)

          • Deepus@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            2 months ago

            Oh nice. Im re-watching then on youtube at the moment so will have to keep an eye out for that one.

    • dQw4w9WgXcQ@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      2 months ago

      The vessel would still have a lot of speed after escaping earth’s orbit, so the trajectory would become a large orbit around the sun. You still have to slow down by about ~30km/s (or ~100 000 km/h) to make that orbit intercept with the sun’s surface.