Faster or slower than circular orbital speed means an elliptic orbit. Since the velocity is horizontal, it means stuff is always released at an apoapsis or periapsis.
I have been looking at a space station that orbits Earth at an altitude of 3500 km, and has tethers that extend from it downwards to 250 km above the surface, and outwards to 6500 km altitude. Right now I'm considering what would happen if a Dragon or Soyuz type re-entry capsule was dropped from ...
reentry will be at about 20 grad angle, at about 4km/s, so you will need some heat shield, but as energy is 4 times lower so heat shield can be smaller, by mass. But generally, it does not significantly differ from usual reentry.
ok. i have been looking around for an approximation because there is no way i can tackle the math.
20 degrees, huh? it is a lot slower, i was nervous though because it has to dissipate its heat in a time that is so much shorter.
i'm going to try to fudge in something for the blog post i'm really trying to put behind me. this seems to be pretty complicated, and kind of a lot to ask for someone to work it all out.
True space settlement depends on being able to have children out there, including pregnancy, childbirth, and the whole process of raising a happy, healthy child. We know very, very little about what it takes to do this in the harsh environment of space. What we do know suggests that the radiation protection and gravity required is far higher than for an adult. As a mental exercise, let us tackl…
Moonwards
Moonwards