Abstract
The planets have been targets of exploration since the launching of Sputnik in 1957. Space probes have been sent to each of the planets known in antiquity and to all but one of the known planets. In this exercise, we explore first the properties of planetary orbits, then how to calculate their coordinates on the sky from their orbital elements, and, finally, how to design the orbit of a spacecraft to travel to a target planet.
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References and Bibliography
Brouwer, D., and Clemence, G. M. (1961) Methods of Celestial Mechanics. Academic Press, New York.
Danby, A. (1988) Fundamentals of Celestial Mechanics, 2nd ed. Willmann-Bell, Richmond, Va.
Moulton, F. R. (1958) An Introduction to Celestial Mechanics. Macmillan, New York.
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© 1991 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
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Schlosser, W., Schmidt-Kaler, T., Milone, E.F. (1991). Orbits and Space Travel. In: Challenges of Astronomy. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4434-9_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4434-9_14
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-8769-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-4434-9
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