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Good question. Imagine a spacecraft is approaching a planet. The planet is moving around the sun. The spacecraft path is adjusted to approach the trailing limb of the planet -- the rear edge of the planet when you look at its orbit around the sun, not its dark side. The planet pulls on the spacecraft as it goes by (and actually the spacecraft pulls on the planet, too). If the spacecraft were close enough to the planet, and traveling slowly enough, it would be captured by the planet. But it is possible to put the space craft in a path so that will not be captured--it can be pulled by the planet so that the spacecraft gains velocity. The planet loses velocity, but since planets are huge and spacecraft small, the planet's velocity is barely affected. It is hard to visualize this, but imagine a ping pong ball being struck by a soccerball in mid-air (this would make a good science class demonstration)--the ping pong ball will pick up tremendous speed by being struck by a heavier ball. The heavy ball will hardly notice it. You can do this by dropping the soccer ball with the ping pong ball on top of it. Slingshotting a spacecraft (also called gravity assist) works in a similar way except the spacecraft would be pulled by the planet's gravity instead of being pushed (as with the two-ball demonstration).

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Q: How are slingshot mechanisms used to accelerate interplanetary spacecraft?
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Where can one buy a Lowepro Slingshot 200?

One can purchase a Lowepro Slingshot 200 from many places. A common place to buy such a slingshot is online on websites such as Amazon as well as from stores like Walmart.


How long does it take to get to Venus traveling in a car at 60 miles per hour?

The straight line distance from the Earth to Venus depends on their positions in their orbits. In terms of miles, Venus is 26 million miles away from the earth at its nearest, and 162 million miles at its furthest. Along these lines it would take between 49 and 308 years. Interplanetary journeys are not undertaken along such straight-line routes. Instead they follow a trajectory that is longer but requires less fuel through using the moon as a slingshot.


What is a slingshot mechanism?

You can get a discussion of that from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interplanetary_travel Scroll down to paragraph 3.2 Cheers!


How long would it take to get to the moon if you were traveling at 50000 kilometers per hour?

The average distance from the earth to the moon is approx 384,000 km. However, the moon's orbit around the earth is elliptical and at its closest, the moon is approx 363,000 km away while at its furthest it is 407,000 km away. So, at 50,000 km per hour, the average distance would take 7.68 hours. The minimum distance would take 7.26 hours while the maximum would take 8.14 hours. But, spacecraft do not go to the moon is a straight line - they first orbit the earth and use the earth's gravity as a kind of slingshot to propel them towards the moon. This may not be the shortest route but it is much more efficient.


Where can hyperbolas be found?

A hyperbola is a conic section. Therefore, it can be produced by slicing a double cone. Half of a hyperbola, just one of its two branches, can be found by slicing a single cone. The cone must be sliced by a plane that is angled sufficiently so that it would intersect a double cone twice. This suggests a way to form one. If one points a flashlight directly at a wall, one sees a circle; moving back increases the radius of the circle. This indicates that light emerges from the flashlight in a cone shape, with its apex at the light bulb. If the flashlight is tilted, the shape of the spot of light on the wall elongates, first becoming an ellipse, then a parabola. Tilting further yields a branch of a hyperbola, as the cone is now inclined in such a way that the plane (the wall) intersects the hypothetical double cone twice. In celestial mechanics, a body that passes by a more massive body, entering its gravitational field, may, if it has sufficient energy, "slingshot" around it instead of becoming trapped in orbit or colliding. If it has exactly enough energy to do this, its trajectory will be a parabola with the massive body at the focus; if it has any more energy, its trajectory will be half of a hyperbola, with the massive body at one of the foci. The reasoning behind this is not nearly so simple as with the flashlight, however.

Related questions

How does a slingshot effect work?

A slingshot effect, also known as a gravity assist, is a technique used by spacecraft to gain speed and change direction by exploiting a planet's gravitational pull. The spacecraft flies close to a planet and uses its gravity to accelerate, altering its trajectory without using additional fuel. This method is commonly used to save fuel and time in space missions.


What is Gravitational SlingShot Effect?

The gravitational slingshot effect, also known as a gravity assist, is a technique used in spaceflight to boost the speed of a spacecraft by utilizing the gravitational pull of a planet or other celestial body. This method allows spacecraft to conserve fuel and increase their velocity, enabling them to reach their destination more efficiently.


What kind of trajectory was used by Galileo spacecraft?

The Galileo spacecraft used a gravity-assist trajectory to reach Jupiter. This involved slingshot maneuvers around Venus and Earth to gain the necessary velocity to reach the outer solar system.


How long would it take you to get to neptune from earth if you were moving at 100000 miles per hour?

A straight line path from Earth to Neptune is around 2.8 billion miles. So at 100,000 mph it would take 27,900 hours - about 3.2 years. However, spacecraft never take the straight line route for their journeys. A more efficient journey is achieved through a "slingshot" manoeuvre using the gravitational effect of the moon or another planet to accelerate the spacecraft towards its destination.


What is a slingshot rifle?

A slingshot rifle is a gun stock that has a slingshot attached to it, they are dangerous an are nit toys.


What is the Hebrew word for slingshot?

kedakh (קדח)


When did The Slingshot end?

The Slingshot ended on 2009-06-09.


What are the effects on humans of the slingshot effect?

The slingshot effect, also known as gravitational assist, is a maneuver used by spacecraft to gain speed by using the gravity of planets. The effects on humans would be minimal, as humans are not typically exposed to this maneuver in spaceflight. However, it can help reduce mission duration and fuel consumption for robotic missions.


What is the slingshot affect?

It is a method in which you accelerate towards a large gravitational force (usually a planet), which then also accelerates you further and you exceed the velocity necessary to break away from it gravitational field of the object, so you get a velocity boost


How do you use slingshot in a sentence?

The warrior quickly and quietly loaded her slingshot.


When was Slingshot Professionals created?

Slingshot Professionals was created on 2003-03-11.


Who invented the slingshot?

Armando Cortez invented the first slingshot around 1881