Just discovered this forum & wondered if someone could tell me what's a Type 1, Type 2, Type 3 and Type 4 orbit into the solar system ?
Any good books explaining this theory ?

Tolle Weihnachten!!!

Well, I’ll give this a try

Those orbits are Hohmann transfer orbits ( = minimum energy trajectory meaning these are not flying directly to the target body but aiming towards a common point … as if You want to throw an object to someone who’s riding a fair wheel ).
You have to imagine a heliocentric view of the solar system ( as seen from above or below ) to get a better understanding of these orbits… a Type 1 takes a spacecraft to its target by doing less then a 180° arc, a Type 2 orbit is an arc over 180° but under 360° ( full circle )…
Type 3 performs an arc between 360° but under 540° and Type 4 performs an arc between 540° and 720° ( double full circle ).

Good books on the subject ?

Check my weblog and You’ll see this summary of excellent NASA-JPL technical papers:
http://www.boggsspace.com/jpl_tech_reports.htm

Otherwise, there’s this theoretic book:
http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/01348...02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

But if You wonder how orbital analysis is done, You might have to get some information on the software used at NASA-JPL ( MIDAS, QUICK, CATO, etc… )


Hope other forum-members can add some useful information on this

Forgot to mention another great book entitled
" The Mechanical Universe " by Goodstein + Olenick + Apostol
Caltech 1985
( ISBN 0-521-30430-X )

Although highschool degree, this book offers an unique insight in the overall Physics theory necessary to understand navigation in space

Also there's this NASA book online:
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/editorial.html#paper

This non-engineer noob can highly recommend that link...

Danke for the information!
Other questions:
1. Which orbit did Cassini-Huygens perform?
2. Did Voyager pass by the planet Mars?
3. How did these get through the asteroid belt between Mars & Jupiter?

O.K. here we go again for a try

Cassini-Huygens performed a double loop around the Sun, passing Venus twice and then onwards to Saturn via an Earth & Jupiter fly by
See: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...00776-br500.jpg

I don’t know of images taken by Voyager spacecraft of the red planet, but I believe that Voyager 2 might have passed near Mars…

You might have a wrong impression due to some animations which really show a heavy layer full of asteroids… Passing the asteroid belt is tricky but I guess it’s an area with lots of empty space as many spacecraft passed it without problems.

Danke schon!
Any information available on the NASA software used for trajectory analysis or any other solar system software?

I have some books for sale on the subject, please contact me off-forum
( private message )


Meanwhile have fun with the Solar System simulator:
http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/

Some background info:
NASA-JPL uses ForTran compatible subroutines as part of the Multi-Mission Analysis Software Library (MASL) for preliminary trajectory analysis.
More specific, 5 different software programs run in a UNIX based system;
Contour (graphically depict complete trajectory)
Quick (propagation of conic orbits & determination of planetary + satellites coordinates)
MIDAS (interplanetary trajectory optimisation)
CATO (interplanetary trajectory optimisation upon arrival conditions)
KPLOT (plotting spacecraft views of planets & moons, polar views of traject,…)

Thanks again, could this topic be moved to Books and Resources?

Well it moved ... maybe we should ask for a subfolder with questions