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ASTE 580 Orbital Mechanics Instructor: Gabor Syllabus Objective and Purposes Orbital mechanics is the basis for spacecraft mission design and is a key component of spacecraft engineering and operations. The basic principles of orbits and astrodynamics informs the designer with options for selecting orbits, maneuvers, and mission profiles that impact the eventual spacecraft design. Understanding orbit perturbations, trajectories, and maneuver needs guides the mission planner with selecting optimal orbit maintenance, rendezvous, and transfers to accomplish the ultimate goals of the mission. This information will then be used by the spacecraft and subsystem engineers to ensure that the spacecraft design can satisfy those requirements and achieve mission success. Once a spacecraft is on orbit, orbital mechanics is the foundation for tracking, orbit determination, and computing orbit corrections. The goal of this course is to provide the student with an understanding of the basic theory, practices, and applications of orbit mechanics. It combines the foundational principles of algebra, geometry, and physics to describe the motion of objects to, in, and from space. At the end of the course, the student should have mastered the basic principles of an object in orbit around a central body, effects of other forces on objects in orbit, and the means for changing orbits. These fundamentals will enable the student to learn and master almost any orbit analysis related problem that they will encounter during their professional lives. Overview This course begins with a refresher of basic physical laws and derives the equations of motion for an object in orbit. The orbit is described in 3 dimensions in relation to standard coordinate frames. Next, the course describes principles of changing orbits through maneuvers and transferring between orbits. Then a detailed exploration of Lambert’s problem and the Patched Conics method leads to applications to mission design. Finally the cou