Does an arbitrary constant burn path between two orbiting bodies exist?
I have an engine with unlimited $\Delta v$. Don't ask how I got it, it's probably one of my earth changing inventions.
Either way: I no longer like Earth and want to get off (I'm headed for a retirement villa on Olympus Mons), but I don't want to lose the nice home comforts, like a sink with a plug hole, or being able to drink from mugs.
So I need to accelerate constantly in order to maintain the illusion of gravity.
You can call me picky if you like, but I don't want all the hassle of strapping things down at the mid way point when the direction of my burn changes and I experience a brief moment of 0g. I just want down to stay down. I know that a flip'n'burn is the fastest route, and that a Hohmann transfer is the most efficient, but frankly I don't care.
So my question is this:
Does a transfer between Earth and Mars exist such that a spacecraft can maintain a relatively constant 'down' from takeoff to landing?
I don't mind variances in the magnitude of the 'gravity' (let's say 0.5g to 1.1 g is acceptable) or the pitch/yaw of the 'gravity' (I've got wide based mugs, 15 degree pitch is fine). I also have a huge stock of tea bags and cuppa soup, so transfer time isn't an issue.
bonus points for proof/disproof that arbitrary transfers of this nature are possible
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/34938. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
Yes
but you have to violate one of your conditions.
Acceleration
To launch from Earth, your acceleration must exceed Earth's gravitational acceleration. So assume an acceleration of 1.1 g (within bounds).
Trajectory
There exists a family of trajectories called Brachistochrone trajectories for vehicles moving at constant acceleration on a trajectory. This is within your constraints.
Space Craft Orientation
Brachistochrone trajectories require a flip at the mid-point so the ship can begin deceleration. The conventional way to think about this is, turn off your engines, rotate the ship 180 degrees, and then restart the engines. This, of course, causes a period of zero-g for a short time during the flight.
In order to remain under constant acceleration, the ship must fly something called a "skew flip" (there's a nice diagram at the link that I can't paste in here), in which you flip the vehicle while remaining under constant acceleration. Since Pitch & Yaw are used to describe the ships orientation to its velocity vector, you violate the pitch/yaw constraint.
As a passenger, you mostly won't feel this because velocity is relative. You will perceive a constant acceleration and, except for possibly a little vertigo, not notice the ship rotation.
The skew flip, violates your minimizing the pitch/yaw - except that the passengers won't really notice this pitch/yaw change. In space, we don't care about our orientation to the velocity vector except in relation to how it causes our velocity vector to change.
More Info
The first place I've seen this term is from Have Spacesuit, Will Travel (and this book appears to be free on Google). The book is a frolicking romp through space but most of the science in it is very real.
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/a/34943. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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