[gurps] Stealthy shuttles

[Zan Lynx]

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Jeff Wilson wrote:
>> From: Anthony Jackson <ajackson at iii.com>
>> Onno Meyer wrote:
>>>> Enter the atmosphere slowly....
>>> There is always the unspoken assumption that you're in planetary orbit.
>>> That does not have to be true. Say the shuttle is moving on a
>>> slightly eccentric orbit around the sun, timed to coincide with earth
>>> orbit at just
>>> about zero relative velocity. Earth gravity will of course affect the
>>> shuttle
>>> (and vice versa, but that's astronomically small).
>>
>> This will result in a velocity at re-entry of just above escape
>> velocity (11.2 kps or more) rather than orbital velocity, which will
>> not help the stealth situation.
> 
> There is a certain subset of scenarios that can yield below escape
> velocity (by slingshotting around the moon for instance), but will still
> be greater than LEO velocity when entering the atmosphere.
> 

You are absolutely certain that a hyperbolic solar orbit with aphelion
preceding Earth so that Earth captures it at its slowest point would
always exceed LEO?

- --
Zan Lynx
zlynx at acm.org

"Knowledge is Power.  Power Corrupts.  Study Hard.  Be Evil."
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