SOI encounters.

[mikepkes]

For fun, and possibly some awesome later on, I've been implementing some orbital mechanics in code. The system is very similar to KSP; 2-body m<<M problems. I've gotten elliptical and hyperbolic orbits to work, and I even have some display of it with interactivity. I can plot out an orbit, drop a maneuver, adjust velocity, etc. Currently I'm working in 2d space and I think I'll probably keep it that way.

I'm just starting to get into orbital encounters with the SOI of another large body. The SOI is easy to compute, but I was curious if anyone has any material relating to computing when an elliptical and hyperbolic path collide with a circle moving in a hyperbolic or circular orbit.

Thanks,

Michael

[N_las]

If you have your orbits:

Vector-Position of Spacecraft as function of time: X_Spacecraft(t)

Vector-Position of Planet as function of time: X_Planet(t)

you can calculate:

Vector-Distance of Spacecraft to Planet as function of time: VectorDistance(t) = X_Spacecraft(t) - X_Planet(t)

Than you have to calculate the Magnitude of the Distance: Distance(t) = mag(VectorDistance(t))

Now you have a function of the distance between spacecraft and planet.

Distance(t)=SOI_Radius

solve for t

If t=0 is the present, the smallest possible solution for 't' ist the time of the next SOI-Encounter.

Edited October 3, 2013 by N_las