Satellites are given the necessary velocity to achieve orbit by means of a launch vehicle that extracts chemical energy stored in the fuel and transforms it into heat and work to increase its own positional and motion energy, and with that the energy of the occasional passengers. Rockets are way more than just heat engines: they need structures, instrumentation, data links, piping, guidance, navigation, control, computers, and software. The road to orbit is a wild ride, full of shocks, accelerations and vibrations spacecraft must survive before they even have a chance to provide a service in orbit. This chapter describes the hectic journey and how it impacts the satellite’s design process.


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    Title :

    The Hectic Ride to Space


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Space Technology ; Chapter : 4 ; 31-33


    Publication date :

    2023-06-08


    Size :

    3 pages




    Type of media :

    Article/Chapter (Book)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English