Re: Um, eh? (Orbital Mechanics for Dummies)

----- Original Message -----
From: "B Lin" <lin@rxkinetix.com>

> The projectile will have a velocity vector of the intial satellite,
plus
whatever thrust you applied to the projectile.	Since you are in orbit,
the
planet's gravity will exert a continous and slowly increasing vector
towards
the planet.  The projectile will spiral inward towards the planet.

No object in a vacuum will spiral down to the planet. All orbits are
elliptical. It's only if the orbits meets enough athmospheric drag to
appreciably slow down the missile that it will spiral down.

Greetings