Falcon Heavy set to launch on February 6th

[Astra.]

31 minutes ago, Derek Willis said:

I agree. There are many rocket stages in orbit around the Sun after being fired to send probes to the planets over the last fifty-odd years. As far as I know, none have collided with an asteroid.

Yes, Iv'e never heard of any type of rocket, probe etc....that man has sent into space (or deeper space) that was known to collide with an asteroid. I think people forget sometimes in just how vast and empty space really is. It's SO empty that the risk of a collision between a spacecraft and an asteroid...(even in the asteroid belt) is extremely minuscule. 
 

   

[toast]

On 10.2.2018 at 7:25 PM, seanjo said:

I believe you have no clue.

And your "judgement" is based on which of my comments exactly?

[internetperson]

On 2/11/2018 at 7:40 AM, Derek Willis said:

I agree. There are many rocket stages in orbit around the Sun after being fired to send probes to the planets over the last fifty-odd years. As far as I know, none have collided with an asteroid.

Got a link? That doesn't sound right but I don't know much about this stuff.

[Derek Willis]

58 minutes ago, internetperson said:

Got a link? That doesn't sound right but I don't know much about this stuff.

What doesn't sound right? That there are many rocket stages in orbit around the Sun? Every probe that travels to a planet, comet etc. needs to be accelerated to beyond Earth's escape velocity using a rocket stage. These stages go into orbit around the Sun.

Here is a link to a Wiki page which gives some idea of how many have been launched during the last fifty-odd years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Solar_System_probes

You can count them yourself!

[Merc14]

2 hours ago, internetperson said:

Got a link? That doesn't sound right but I don't know much about this stuff.

Lists of objects in heliocentric orbit  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_artificial_objects_in_heliocentric_orbit

[internetperson]

I think we have the definition of orbit mixed up, that being said I'm looking to learn not argue so exclamation points are not necessary.

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

9 minutes ago, internetperson said:

I think we have the definition of orbit mixed up, that being said I'm looking to learn not argue so exclamation points are not necessary.

How do you define orbit ? 

[Derek Willis]

17 minutes ago, internetperson said:

I think we have the definition of orbit mixed up, that being said I'm looking to learn not argue so exclamation points are not necessary.

I meant no offence: I was simply meaning that if you want to know how many rocket stages, probes, and other human-made objects are in orbit around the Sun, you can count them yourself.

[Merc14]

22 minutes ago, internetperson said:

I think we have the definition of orbit mixed up, that being said I'm looking to learn not argue so exclamation points are not necessary.

If you are looking to learn then you'd tell us how you define orbit because no one knows what you are talking about here.

[internetperson]

21 hours ago, Derek Willis said:

I meant no offence: I was simply meaning that if you want to know how many rocket stages, probes, and other human-made objects are in orbit around the Sun, you can count them yourself.

No worries. I definitely need to read up on how the rockets work, stages during the flight, etc at some point in time. Most of my knowledge comes from watching Apollo 13.

Oh and regarding the orbit thing: Something has to be specifically 'set' in orbit, right? So it didn't make sense to me that rocket stages or probes would consistently drop into orbit solely around the sun. But after checking out mercs link I see how heliocentric is different from what I was thinking. If heliocentric is redundant in this context then my bad.

Edited February 14, 2018 by internetperson

[Derek Willis]

3 hours ago, internetperson said:

No worries. I definitely need to read up on how the rockets work, stages during the flight, etc at some point in time. Most of my knowledge comes from watching Apollo 13.

Oh and regarding the orbit thing: Something has to be specifically 'set' in orbit, right? So it didn't make sense to me that rocket stages or probes would consistently drop into orbit solely around the sun. But after checking out mercs link I see how heliocentric is different from what I was thinking. If heliocentric is redundant in this context then my bad.

An orbit is simply the path an object follows under the influence of a gravitational field. We tend to think of orbits as being "closed", as in an ellipse or a circle (which is really just a special case of an ellipse). This is because the word "orbit" is derived from "orb" - ancient people used to think that the Sun, Moon, planets and stars were embedded on a series of moving glass orbs (spheres) all centered on the Earth. There are also "open" orbits, which are parabolic or hyperbolic. Whether an orbit is closed or open depends on the velocity of the object in question, and the strength of the gravitational field. So, for example, if an object in a closed orbit around the Earth is accelerated with a rocket stage, it will reach a speed where it will no longer loop back round the Earth, and will "escape" from the Earth in a parabolic/hyperbolic orbit (which it is depends on the actual velocity).

All the satellites orbiting the Earth are of course also orbiting the Sun, together with the Earth. So to reach another planet - for example, Mars - the probe has to be put into the orbit Mars follows around the Sun. This is done by accelerating the probe into its own orbit around the Sun. The launch of the probe is timed so that it will arrive at Mars's orbit exactly at the point where the planet is. The probe is then decelerated and is "captured" by the gravity of Mars, and enters an orbit around Mars. In the past the early probes weren't able to decelerate, and simply "flew" past Mars and into their own heliocentric orbits.

So you can see that each time a probe is launched to a planet, the rocket stage used to accelerate away from the Earth ends up in its own orbit around the Sun - a heliocentric orbit.

[Waspie_Dwarf]