Calculating an eccentric enough orbit to allow a dip into atmosphere and escape again
How would I calculate if it is possible to have an eccentric enough orbit around a gas giant to dip the periapsis some depth(how deep?) into the atmosphere of a gas giant like Jupiter or Saturn and taking into account the atmospheric drag, still escape to a stable orbit? Is this even possible or is there a calculator online that might help?
CLARIFICATION I intended this to be a one time pass through with a man made ship or probe. Sorry for the confusion.
I want to use a story element where a spacecraft is setups up a high enough apoapsis to have the momentum and orbital velocity so they can "dive" into the planet's atmosphere to whatever depth is possible and have the energy to get back out to space. I can allow for them to add to the speed at Periapse if needed but I wanted to determine how deep they could dive and still get out with a margin of safety.
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