emrath@uiuccsb.UUCP (04/26/84)
#N:uiuccsb:15700010:000:727
uiuccsb!emrath Apr 26 13:22:00 1984
I don't remember enough mechanics from high school or college.
I read in Aviation Week & ST that the deorbit burn on the last
shuttle mission resulted in a retrograde delta-v of about 460
feet per second. This is consistent with the figures of 6000 lbs
thrust per OMS engine, a mass of 75-100 tons, and burn time of 8 min.
However, I figure the shuttle's velocity must be close to 25k fps at
an orbit of 250 nmiles. I'm suprised that less than a 2% change
brings it down rather than just bringing it to an elliptical orbit.
Is the de-orbit burn done at an orbit just above the atmosphere
so that the new low point is within, thus allowing friction to
take over?
Perry Emrath, UofIL
...{decvax|inuxc}!pur-ee!uiucdcs!emrath