Events Calendar

Spacecraft Rendezvous, Frozen Orbits, and Applications

Refreshments will be served at 3:00 after the seminar.Topic 1: Spacecraft RendezvousTerminal rendezvous consists of nulling the position and velocity offset
vectors of the chase vehicle relative to the target vehicle. An example is the
rendezvous of the Discovery Space Shuttle with the International Space
Station on Sunday afternoon, 9/30/09.Topic 2: Frozen Orbits and Sun Synchronous Orbits and Mission
Applications Past/Present/FutureFrozen orbits fix a set of orbit parameters to meet mission requirements
such as repeated overflight of points on the earth at the same altitude. Sun
synchronous orbits fix the spacecraft's orientation with respect to the sun.
Mission applications include the SEASAT spacecraft which introduced the
frozen orbit and the current A-Train in Low (705-km altitude) Earth Orbit.Speaker: Gerald R. Hintz, Adjunct Professor
Division of Astronautical Engineering

Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 109

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Dan Erwin