Pharisaeus t1_jc7rbal wrote on March 14, 2023 at 5:36 PM

Reply to comment by fernibble in NASA wants new 'deorbit tug' to bring space station down in 2030 by DevilsRefugee

This is because atmosphere does most of the job, you just need to drop the perigee low enough.

Consider that the Space Shuttle had around 300 m/s of delta-v available for their orbital operations. Deorbit burn of visiting spacecraft to the ISS are around 130-150 m/s.

sometimes-wondering t1_jc82g7v wrote on March 14, 2023 at 6:45 PM

Makes me think of how wasteful I am in KSP

banned_in_Raleigh t1_jc8em9b wrote on March 15, 2023 at 1:06 AM

MRO entered Mars orbit on April 6th 2006 and used primarily aerobraking until September 11th to shape it's orbit around Mars. Ain't nobody got that kind of time. In KSP, you just send up a bit more fuel.

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/mars-reconnaissance-orbiter/in-depth/

FullOfStarships t1_jca45ks wrote on March 15, 2023 at 11:36 AM

Agreed.

You could build an ion engine to do this with a tiny amount of propellant, but that would take years which completely misses the point.

Sort of like taking foot off the gas and letting a car drift to a stop.

Instead, ISS needs something like brakes. Press the pedal and the whole thing slows down. Just like modulating the brake pedal so that you stop at the lights. In this case, you apply just the right amount of brakes at just the right time to splashdown in the Southern Pacific (Point Nemo, as it's known).