Vis-viva Equation - Vis Viva Equation

Vis Viva Equation

For any Kepler orbit (elliptic, parabolic, hyperbolic or radial), the vis viva equation is as follows:

where:

  • is the relative speed of the two bodies
  • is the distance between the two bodies
  • is the semi-major axis (a>0 for ellipses, or =0 for parabolas, and a<0 for hyperbolas)
  • is the gravitational constant
  • are the masses of the two bodies

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