Inclination Entangled With Other Orbital Elements
An important subtlety of performing an inclination change is that Keplerian orbital inclination is defined by the angle between ecliptic North and the vector normal to the orbit plane, (i.e. the angular momentum vector). This means that inclination is always positive and is entangled with other orbital elements primarily the argument of periapsis which is in turn connected to the longitude of the ascending node. This can result in two very different orbits with precisely the same inclination.
Read more about this topic: Orbital Inclination Change
Famous quotes containing the words inclination, entangled and/or elements:
“It is said that truth comes from the mouths of fools and children: I wish every good mind which feels an inclination for satire would reflect that the finest satirist always has something of both in him.”
—G.C. (Georg Christoph)
“‘Tis going, I own, like the Knight of the Woeful Countenance, in quest of melancholy adventures—but I know not how it is, but I am never so perfectly conscious of the existence of a soul within me, as when I am entangled in them.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“But all subsists by elemental strife;
And Passions are the elements of Life.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)