Orbital Mechanics

This set of notes gives an introduction to the subject of Orbital Mechanics. The first part gives a suggested roadmap to connect high school physics courses to undergraduate orbital mechanics courses. The second part gives a demonstration flight in Martin Schweiger's Orbiter space flight simulator. 

Outline

Chapter 1: Suggested Roadmap

• 1.1: What to Expect in Your First Course 

• 1.2: Resource 1: Calculus: Early Transcendentals

• 1.3: Resource 2: Basics of Space Flight 

• 1.4: Resource 3: Orbital Mechanics for Engineering Students

• 1.5: Honorable Mentions

Chapter 2: Demonstration Lunar Flight 

• 2.1: Introduction and Flight Plan

• 2.2: Launch Compute

• 2.3: Launch

• 2.4: Orbit Circularization

• 2.5: Orbital Planes Alignment

• 2.6: Entering a Phasing Orbit

• 2.7: Rendezvous and Docking