Darryl Shannon wrote:
>
> This is a huge misconception that I blame Star Trek for. The ships
> always lose power and start to crash into the planets. But that won't
> happen if you are in orbit! It requires no energy to stay in orbit,
> you are already falling into the planet, it's just that you keep
> missing. There is no orbit that describes a spiral. Orbits are always
> parabolic, hyperbolic, or elliptical (with circular being an elliptical
> orbit with zero eccentricity). Alberto, help me out here!
>
I always just assumed that the orbits that Star Trek ships use
are kept artificially slow, such as staying geosynchronous
right at the edge of the atmosphere (or even at the altitude
that requires an object to circle the earth every 90 min. for
a stable orbit). It would be a HUGE waste of energy and a
daft idea for anyone concerned with safety, but would explain
why ships fall like stones once they lose power.
It would probably not, technically, be an orbit, either.
-- Matt Grimaldi
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