Elliptic Orbit - Flight Path Angle

Flight Path Angle

The flight path angle is the angle between the orbiting body's velocity vector (= the vector tangent to the instantaneous orbit) and the local horizontal. Under standard assumptions the flight path angle satisfies the equation:

where:

  • is the specific relative angular momentum of the orbit,
  • is orbital speed of orbiting body,
  • is radial distance of orbiting body from central body,
  • is the flight path angle

Read more about this topic:  Elliptic Orbit

Famous quotes containing the words flight, path and/or angle:

    One man’s observation is another man’s closed book or flight of fancy.
    Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)

    Old and fat, I waddle, gasping, up the beckoning path of lust.
    Mason Cooley (b. 1927)

    It is a mistake, to think the same thing affects both sight and touch. If the same angle or square, which is the object of touch, be also the object of vision, what should hinder the blind man, at first sight, from knowing it?
    George Berkeley (1685–1753)