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My orbital dynamics knowledge is informed almost entirely from kerbal space program, but since the majority of satellites orbit with an eccentricity close to 0,
by WatchDog 9y ago
My orbital dynamics knowledge is informed almost entirely from kerbal space program, but since the majority of satellites orbit with an eccentricity close to 0, shouldnt it be fairly simple to just do a radial-out burn and crash into the atmosphere, which generally does not require a huge deal of fuel.
- db48x 9y agoRadial burns require more fuel than prograde/retrograde, and most satellites don't have enough fuel to deorbit. Geosynchronous satellites usually go to a higher orbit at their end of life, actually, since that's cheapest.