How the hell did it travel such a long distance?
In: Earth Science
Was it an izuna drop?
if you are on a long elliptical orbit around earth and you make a burn opposite the direction you are moving at the highest point of orbit, it is very easy and extremely “cheap” to slow down enough to get caught by the atmosphere and slow down into a reentry
You should try playing Kerbal Space Program, it will give you a fairly intuitive understanding of how orbital mechanics function
To go a little deeper than most posts here-
Rocket performance is measured in delta v, or change on velocity, of you compare two different tickets on the launch pad the one with the higher deltav will go further,but the only time you use up dV is when you change speed, the places that use the most dV are launches, to reach low orbit might require 9000m/s + dV but to go from low orbit to escape needs only an aditional 4000,but to go from escape to intersecting mars, for example needs under 1000 more, an asteroid as an object with little mass has no gravity to contend with reletivly speaking so if you aim your trajectory to come close and then match speed you’re sorted. An interesting point about dV though is the lighter your ship the less fuel you need for the same dV, because dV = change in velocity the more mass you have the lower your acceleration for the given constant that is your burn duration which means you don’t get as fast, so 1000dV at launch might be several hundred tonnes of fuel but 1000dv for the final probe might be a few hundred kilos instead. Also return strips generally take alot less fuel cod a) you’re lighter and b) you can slow the insane speed of interplanetary orbits using the earth’s atmosphere so 15000m/s dV going up is basically a free ride home, without air tho every bit of speed you put in at one point must be counteracted later to return
Hayabus2 uses ion thrusters which allows it to reach high speed on long space missions with slow but continuous acceleration.
The capsule launched six years ago and traveled 180 million miles. That’s an average of about 3,400 miles per hour.
That’s not actually very fast, as these things go. Orbital speed is about 17,000 miles per hour. You get these speeds by flying big ass rockets into orbit, and then using gravity to slingshot around the solar system.
Wikipedia shows the relationship between the orbits of Earth and the asteroid.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/.Animation_of_Hayabusa2_orbit.gif
The earth’s orbit is about 93 million miles in radius, so when the asteroid is on the opposite side of the sun then it is indeed about 180 million miles away. But the gif shows that the earth keeps “catching up” to the asteroid making that distance considerably less.
As for how long it takes to travel 180 million miles, you do it every four months or so, just by riding the earth along its orbit. Being launched into space doesn’t change that…you still carry the momentum of the earth with you.
To travel in space you need to:
1. accelerate to the desired speed to get where you want when you want
2. let off the throttle and open a good (and long) book while you coast
Because [Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son of a bitch in space](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLpgxry542M), travelling in space doesn’t take extra fuel during the trip, only when you need to change direction or speed.
The asteroid was 180 million miles from earth. But the entire flight covered 5.2 billion miles. Its way less direct but using gravity boosts from other objects is way faster than a direct path.
Amazing how a race that lived in caves while ago is able to do such things. We have a bright future, if we don’t kill ourselves in the process.
Once in space, and going in 1 direction, you keep going, unless gravity is around.
If you wanna change direction, you need to use fuel and engery again,
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