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Basics of Space Flight A paper version of the http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics interactive online tutorial May 2001 Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology JPL D-20120 TMOD 890-289 Notes and disclaimers on this paper version: This is a printout of an Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) file that was created from an interactive website tutorial. As such, it is missing many of the online interac- tive features intended to help the reader understand and retain the informa- tion. Also, as a printed document, it contains many anomalies. Examples are n Inappropriate page breaks. n Blank areas where the HTML to .pdf translation was less than optimum. n No continuous page numbers in the document. n A repeat of the online navigation tools (chapter headings, etc.) at the end of each section. n Hyperlinked picture captions and notes inserted between continu- ous text pages. n Pages inserted from other web sites (e.g., spacecraft descriptions). Despite these oddities, demand has been high for a printable version of the tutorial, so here it is. Basics of Space Flight THE FEBRUARY 2001 UPDATE ● How do you get to another planet? ● Can gravity assist you? ● What is Universal Time? The people of Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) create EDITORIAL and manage NASA projects of exploration throughout our solar system and beyond. SECTION I This is a training module designed primarily to help JPL operations ENVIRONMENT people identify the range of concepts associated with deep space 1 The Solar System missions and grasp the relationships these concepts exhibit for space 2 Reference Systems flight. It also enjoys growing popularity among high school and 3 Gravity & Mechanics 4 Trajectories college students, as well as faculty and people everywhere who are 5 Planetary Orbits interested in interplanetary space flight. 6 Electromagnetics The Basics of Space Flight attempts to offer a broad scope, but SECTION II limited depth, as a background for further investigation; many other FLIGHT PROJECTS resources are available, of course, for delving into each of the topics 7 Mission Inception related here. Indeed, any one of these topics can involve a lifelong 8 Experiments career of specialization. This module's purpose is met if the 9 S/C Classification participant learns the scope of concepts that apply to interplanetary 10 Telecom space exploration and the relationships between them. 11 Onboard Systems 12 Science Instruments This module is intended to be used online via the worldwide web 13 Navigation (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics). There are interactive quizzes to let you check your own progress. No academic credit is offered for SECTION III OPERATIONS completing the module. 14 Launch 15 Cruise Interplanetary adventure begins . 16 Encounter 17 Extended Ops NEXT PAGE 18 Deep Space Network HOME | GUIDE | INDEX | GLOSSARY | UNITS OF MEASURE | LINKS http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/ [4/5/2001 12:06:33 PM] Basics of Space Flight Image Information Image Information Thanks to The Planetary Report, published by The Planetary Society, for kind permission to use this painting by David Hardy. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/hardy.html [4/5/2001 12:06:34 PM] Basics of Space Flight Editorial Page Editorial Page SITE LAST MODIFIED 3 MAY 2001 This document was first prepared in 1993 by Dave Doody and George Stephan of the Mission Operations Section (391 as it was named back then) in association with the Section's Training Working Group. The 2001 update is by Dave Doody with Diane Fisher's editorial and technical expertise. From 1995 through 1997, The Planetary Society published Dave Doody's regular column, "Basics of Space Flight" which drew and embellished on the original version of this document. Some of those articles still appear in the "publications" section on The Planetary Society's website. Aspects of this material have been incorporated in the 2001 update. If you have a question about any of the content in this document, you may send email to Dave Doody (use the above link). Dave is currently Flight Operations Lead for the Cassini Mission Support and Services Office. Web document administered by Diane Fisher Notes on the February 2001 Update Much of the text from the original 1993 Basics of Space Flight online version has been retained but augmented and edited to improve clarity and simplicity, with the intention of keeping focused on "what's the point here?" Additional material has been added to reflect the current and planned sets of interplanetary missions, as well as some Earth-orbiting missions. The graphics have been updated and reworked to enhance clarity, and some have animations available to download and run in the form of animated .gif files. The world-wide-web was in its infancy when Diane Fisher first took the initiative to put The Basics of Space Flight out there. Today the web is well populated with resources. Just about everyone, from people who create scientific instruments flying on spacecraft, to launch vehicle manufacturers, have their own website. This update is highly connected to take advantage of some very good external sites. Good links, and the document's animated diagrams, make it much more informative as a web document than it was in paper. Of course, all those links pose a problem: they are subject to breakage. We've tried to select links less likely to break, but break they will. Please let us know when you find a broken link. Other minor corrections, changes and additions will be made to the document on an irregular basis. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/editorial.html (1 of 4) [5/3/2001 2:07:34 PM] Basics of Space Flight Editorial Page Efforts have been made to retain hyperlink anchor name points from the original 1993 online version to avoid breaking links from external websites, however it may not have been possible to avoid breaking some. One drawback to having preserved incoming links is that there is now a wide variation among the lengths of pages, and in the nunber of pages per chapter. We do realize the Latin "data" is the plural of "datum," one single point of data. In this version, though, we treat the word "data" collectively, like one would treat "sugar." There are lots of little bits. This approach releases us from having to wield awkward sentences to treat it as plural. In this document, data is a substance. It flows through pipelines and processors. Acknowledgements The 2001 update was undertaken by Dave Doody and Diane Fisher, working under the auspices of the JPL Mission Execution & Automation Section (368). Diane created most of the animated images, and performed technical editing of the entire document. Thanks to Susan Reichley and Mary Beth Murrill of Media Relations for their reviews and advice. Thanks to Susan Kurtik for funding, to Ben Toyoshima for guidance, to Gerardo Rivera and Robert Antonio for the quiz scoring engine, and to Eric Tauer for web technical advice and for delivering the nice animation handling script in a timely manner. Thanks to Bill Kurth for help with information about the heliosphere, Jeremy Jones for reviewing navigation issues, Steve Edberg for help with things astronomical, Laura Sakamoto for expertise with telecommunications and DSN topics, to Betsy Wilson for lots of help with the telemetry section, and to Trina Ray for reviewing Radio Science and DSN stuff. Thanks to Greg Chin, manager of the Cassini Mission Support & Services Office, who granted the author freedom to work on this update during a busy Jupiter flyby period for the Cassini Mission to Saturn. For the original 1993 version, Diane Fisher provided technical editing and illustration, and took the initiative to publish it on the web. Cozette Parker assisted with the initial hardcopy publication. Special thanks to the original reviewers Ben Toyoshima, Larry Palkovic, Carol Scott, Rob Smith, Dan Lyons, and Bob Molloy, and to field testers Kathy Golden, Steve Annan, Linda Lee, and Paul Porter for their valuable comments. Thanks to Roy Bishop (Physics Department, Acadia University, and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada) for his independent review. Image Credits Clicking on an image in the document will bring up a page citing credits if any are appropriate. Some images link directly to a related website. Honors and Kudos Received Here's a list of awards and commendations received, along with the story about how the document got started, and how it became popular. PDF Version http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/editorial.html (2 of 4) [5/3/2001 2:07:34 PM] Basics of Space Flight Editorial Page The 2001 update has concentrated on use of the web as the primary medium for users to access the Basics of Space Flight. Users will benefit most from the web version with its extensive links and animations. If you would like to print a paper copy or would like to download the entire tutorial to study at your leisure without being connected to the internet, we have also prepared a .pdf (portable document format) file, which you can view or print using the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. A few notes and disclaimers about the .pdf file: It has been generated from this web site. Page breaks are not controlled in this process, so they may appear in strange places, such as immediately following a heading. However, the links for navigation within the document have been retained. In some cases, external links to other web sites have been also retained. When you put the mouse over an external link, the cursor turns to a pointing finger with a tiny "W" (for Web) on it. Be aware that if you click on it and are not connected to the web, you won't go anywhere! Of course, the animated graphics, interactive quizzes, and search engine do not work in the .pdf file.
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