3 ms·
You are perhaps exaggerating the "astronomical" delta-V required. Space stations are generally in a low ~400km prograde circular orbit, at an inclination effici
by cornholio 3y ago
You are perhaps exaggerating the "astronomical" delta-V required. Space stations are generally in a low ~400km prograde circular orbit, at an inclination efficient for an northern hemisphere launch.
For example, you could push the last stable Mir into the orbit of the ISS using only a few hundred m/s delta-v, regardless if it was a good idea or not. Of course, you could construct other scenarios where docking is not possible with current available thrust options.
- Dalewyn 3y agoDelta-v is a change in velocity, so "only a few hundred m/s of delta-v" isn't painting the entire picture. The more massive an object is, the more energy (aka fuel) it takes to impart a given amount of velocity change (aka delta-v) upon it. Both a small satellite and a big station module need the same "only a few hundred m/s of delta-v", but the amount of fuel needed to accomplish that maneuver will be astronomically different between them because the station module is so much more massive.
- cornholio 3y agoYou can move the goalposts, but still aren't getting to "astronomical" energy, just linear with the mass. If a Dragon or Soyuz craft has fuel for 400m/s in orbit maneuvering, that's about 40m/s for a 10x more massive structure. So definitely plausible, could even happen over a large number of crew rotations. Both crafts are automated so you could hypothetically use the payload mass and volume to deliver extra fuel tanks, with plumbing to the onboard engines. So a full orbit change could happen in a few such flights.