No, I want the 30 seconds news program to use the right terminology to describe their current trajectory, after the TLI:
- not "they've left earth orbit" which is incorrect, they never do
- to "they've left LOW earth orbit" which is correct
And, actually OldGateBoatDriver (by the way, I'm not arguing, I'm being pedantic):
Their
current (post TLI) trajectory is an elliptical orbit around the earth, perturbed by every other body in the universe (the largest being, obviously, the moon). All the other ellipses you described (except the tranistion to the moon being the primary gravity well) are the results of burns. At the point the moon becomes the primary gravity well the orbit will become an ellipse around the moon, perturbed by all other bodies. At this point they will be part of the moon / Artemis system, itself orbitting the earth (on an elliptical path, perturbed by all other celestial bodies).
As well, they won't past through L1, they'll pass by it. They will be well ahead of the straight line between the earth and moon wrt the moon's orbit.
But the point is, at no point do they reach earth escape velocity; their TLI is deliberately kept just below that so that in any case they will return to the earth (unless their orbit intersects that of the moon) and don't need to have a moon "slingshot" (although I think, in the case fo Artemis 2, they are using it to get back quicker). It's kept "just" below so that it is the fastest transfer orbit without being above escape.
Maybe, however, organizations like the BBC should reinforce that, in space, everything is always orbitting everything else, and never "just drifting." That is basic science, and might be a simple way for lay people to understand the physics. Because I find it incredibly dismissive when people say "it's physics and math" as if those things are some magical panecea, and I could see contributing to a "rise in anti-intellectualism."
And know I'm thinking out loud. Even if you somehow come to a full stop wrt the object your orbitting, in which case you will immediately fall towards it, you are still orbitting it. It's just that your tangential velocity is now zero, and the ellipse has flattened to a line, with the invariable result that you will crash into it. But the physics and math is elegant, not mystical.
Another thought bubble: my oldest son did the IB program, and they did a really good ob of linking subjects. So, for a simplified example, at the same time they discussed orbits in physics, they did calculus in math , and studied the Principaia (sp?) in english. To me, everyone should have the opportunity to do that, to understand how elegant the world we live in is (outside of human failings).
/pendant
Should I take the lesson from these comments that I'm not only a nerd, and at times pedantic, but I'm also an asshole? I do often wonder if my means of engaging is just as much of a problem as the other's I've described. They've also been known to take a
lot out of me.
Maybe the times I've decided to disengage are indicative of what I should do permanently. I am feeling really mad at the world lately, and yes, it has surfaced in my interactions.
