Orbital Mechanics questions: If you are travelling in the space Shuttle in space, and you want to increase your altitude, do you increase or decrease your speed?
Does this change when you are stationary in orbit vs orbiting? Nerd From Hell Decrease. I'm not sure what you mean by stationary in orbit. For normal calculations, your velocity in orbit is that velocity v at which the inward pull necessary to bend your straight track into a circle with a center at the center of mass of the earth is equal to the force of gravity exerted by the earth at that altitude. Thus: m1v^2/r = Gm1m2/r^2 Where v is velocity, r is distance from the center of the earth, m1 is the mass of the object in orbit, m2 is the mass of the earth, and G is the Gravitational constant. Simplifying: v^2r=Gm2 G and m2 are constants. Gm2=C Thus, v^2r=C and v=(C/r)^.5 So as r increases, v decreases. All of that from 5 years ago memory of my physics courses, but I'm pretty sure it's right. Gautam
