I have what seems a simple question that I know is going to have a not so simple answer, but... Just how difficult is it to change the inclination of an orbit? I'm thinking on the order of 25 or more degrees. It doesn't have to be "overnight" but could take a period of time, perhaps up to a year. I know a lot of people asked why Columbia couldn't have rendezvoused with the ISS if they knew they were in trouble and the obvious answer was they were in the wrong orbit without enough fuel to change it. But, I'm thinking of unmanned craft with little or no time constraints. Could it be done with an ion engine? Brian ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Mar 10 2004 - 00:46:51 EST