Flight Path Angle
The flight path angle is the angle between the orbiting body's velocity vector (= the vector tangent to the instantaneous orbit) and the local horizontal. Under standard assumptions the flight path angle satisfies the equation:
where:
- is the specific relative angular momentum of the orbit,
- is orbital speed of orbiting body,
- is radial distance of orbiting body from central body,
- is the flight path angle
Read more about this topic: Elliptic Orbit
Famous quotes containing the words flight, path and/or angle:
“When we are high and airy hundreds say
That if we hold that flight they’ll leave the place,
While those same hundreds mock another day
Because we have made our art of common things ...”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream.”
—Ernest Christopher Dowson (1867–1900)
“Modesty is the only sure bait when you angle for praise.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)