Jeorbit
Donator
Hi Orbinauts!
Knowing a bit about newtonan physics and Kepler's laws really helps appreciate the incredible feat performed by those fictional engineers in science fiction stories, who design engines so powerful that they allow to zip freely around :lol:
Whenever I watch a Sci-fi movie and see ships flying freely around planets, I can't help wondering "where did they make their burn?", or "wouldn't this screw their orbit?", or "How can they both fight and plan their orbit, wouldn't this make them very much predictable?" (well, just like docking, once close enough you actually can fly freely indeed, but even then, you gotta watch that Pe!)
But then I realized that this would only be true within a solar system. What about interstellar flight? What is the dominant body there? The nearest star, I guess, but is its influence strong enough to have any visible effect?
I guess my question is : in interstellar space, would a ship be able to zip everywhere, free from influence, just like what Sci-fi usually show us? What would be its constraints (apart from technology)?
Thanks!
Knowing a bit about newtonan physics and Kepler's laws really helps appreciate the incredible feat performed by those fictional engineers in science fiction stories, who design engines so powerful that they allow to zip freely around :lol:
Whenever I watch a Sci-fi movie and see ships flying freely around planets, I can't help wondering "where did they make their burn?", or "wouldn't this screw their orbit?", or "How can they both fight and plan their orbit, wouldn't this make them very much predictable?" (well, just like docking, once close enough you actually can fly freely indeed, but even then, you gotta watch that Pe!)
But then I realized that this would only be true within a solar system. What about interstellar flight? What is the dominant body there? The nearest star, I guess, but is its influence strong enough to have any visible effect?
I guess my question is : in interstellar space, would a ship be able to zip everywhere, free from influence, just like what Sci-fi usually show us? What would be its constraints (apart from technology)?
Thanks!
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