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Space Forum / Shuttle / July 2005Shuttle i equatorial orbit?
Would it be possible for todays Shuttles to achieve equatorial orbit (should it have a purpose) and return to KSC (or Dryden)? Could it (theoretically!) reach polar orbit? Best regards, Niels Foldager Denmark >Would it be possible for todays Shuttles to achieve equatorial orbit >(should it have a purpose) and return to KSC (or Dryden)? Not if launched from KSC. They'd need to be launched from much nearer the equator to go into equatorial orbit. Not enough fuel to do the plane changes you require. >Could it (theoretically!) reach polar orbit? I think you can go into polar orbit from anywhere. We all live on some line of longitude. That's all you need. Range safety would be a practical limiting factor, though. Dale > >Would it be possible for todays Shuttles to achieve equatorial orbit > >(should it have a purpose) and return to KSC (or Dryden)? > Not if launched from KSC. They'd need to be launched from much nearer > the equator to go into equatorial orbit. Not enough fuel to do the plane > changes you require. Thanks, Dale. Even more theoretic, then, if the Shuttle anyway was in an equatorial orbit, would it be able to reach KSC or Dryden ? best regards, Niels >Even more theoretic, then, if the Shuttle anyway was in an equatorial >orbit, would it be able to reach KSC or Dryden ? Since nobody else has answered, I guess you're at the mercy of my understanding of these things :) No, the Shuttle couldn't land at KSC or Dryden from an equatorial orbit. When the shuttle was designed, the Air Force wanted to be able to launch it from Vandenberg Air Force base into a polar orbit (like spy satellites use) and then be able to return to Vandenberg after one orbit (either by design or due to an emergency). Since the Earth rotates under a spacecraft while it's in orbit, after one orbit the Shuttle would be about 1000 miles west of Vandenberg AFB. The shuttle was designed to be able to fly this far back to Vandenberg once it got back into the atmosphere and its wings allowed it to fly as a glider. This is the Shuttle's "cross range" capability. Well, to try to wrap this up, the equator, of course, is at 0 degrees. KSC is at 28.5 degrees N. latitude. One degree of latitude is about 69 miles. So the distance between the equator and KSC is almost 2000 miles, or twice what the shuttle can glide to. The shuttle has orbital maneuvering engines, but I think Jorge Frank said a while back that even if you filled the entire payload bay with fuel for them, they could only change the orbit by about 5 degrees. So even if you could do that, you'd still be 600 miles or so short of KSC. Dryden is at 34 degrees N. latitude, so that isn't possible either. I hope that's close to a correct answer :) Dale I should have looked this up first- the shuttle's actual cross range ability is apparently more like 1,265 miles. A bit closer, but still not nearly enough... Dale > I hope that's close to a correct answer :) That's exactly what I was looking for. Thank you. Best regards, Niels |
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