Orbital Inclination Change - Inclination Entangled With Other Orbital Elements

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:

    Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.
    Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971)

    ‘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)

    In spite of all their kind some elements of worth
    With difficulty persist here and there on earth.
    Hugh MacDiarmid (1892–1978)