What you'll learn:
- Two-body relative motion equation and polar coordinates
- Trajectory equation
- Kepler's laws & Kepler's equation
- Elliptical & circular orbits
- Orbital elements
- Conversion of position and velocity vectors to orbital elements
- Conversion of orbital elements to position and velocity vectors
This course covers material typically found in the first half of a university-level Orbital Mechanics or Astrodynamics course. You'll learn all the fundamentals of elliptical orbits. We'll go through and derive equations like the trajectory equation, Kepler's equation and more.
Once you finish this course you'll be able to determine the position and velocity of orbiting bodies, understand the 6 orbital elements, apply Newton's root-finding method to Kepler's equation and much more!
Topics we'll cover
Relative 2-body equation
Angular momentum
Polar coordinates and energy
Trajectory equation
Elliptical orbits
Kepler's laws
Kepler's equation
Newton's root finding method
Orbital elements
Conversion from position and velocity vectors to orbital elements
Conversion from orbital elements to position and velocity vectors
