Astrodynamics

This book is going to serve as an introduction to the field of astrodynamics, especially from a practical, engineering perspective. We will focus our attention on man-made satellites, and the dynamics of orbiting such satellites around the earth, the moon, and other "local" objects. We will look at practical applications, such as earth-orbits, lunar and inter-planetary trajectories, ballistic missiles, and interstellar escape trajectories.

Table of Contents

 * /Introduction/
 * /History/

Section 1: Introduction

 * /Fundamental Laws/
 * /The Earth/
 * /Time/
 * /Coordinate Systems/
 * Basic Rocketry

Section 2: Basic Orbits

 * /Three Body Problem/
 * /N-Body Problem/
 * /Motion Constants/
 * /Orbit Basics/
 * /Classical Orbit Elements/
 * /Orbit Determination/

Section 3: Satellite Position and Velocity

 * /Satellite Ground-Track/
 * /Time of Flight/
 * /The Kepler Problem/
 * /The Gauss Problem/

Section 4: Perturbations

 * /Perturbations/
 * /Cowell's Method/
 * /Encke's Method/
 * /Parameter Variations/
 * /Analytic Formulation/

Section 4: Orbital Manuvers

 * /In-Plane Orbit Changes/
 * /Out-of-Plane Orbit Changes/

Section 5: Specific Trajectories

 * /Ballistic Trajectories/
 * /Lunar Trajectories/
 * /Interplanetary Trajectories/