AE 313: Homework Assignment 1

Due: Thursday, September 11

1. You receive a report that your spacecraft has been identified with the following position
and velocity vectors, ~r = 7000i + 0j + 0k km and ~v = 0i 7.063j + 0k km/s.
a) Calculate the angular momentum for this orbit.
b) Calculate the mechanical energy for this orbit.
SOLUTION
a) The angular momentum is found as ~h = ~r ~v .
~h = ~r ~v
= 49441k km2 /s

(1)
(2)

h = ||r|| ||v|| sin()

= 49441 km2 /s

(3)
(4)

alternatively,

Note that since I did not specify if I wanted the vector or the magnitude, either is correct.

b) The energy for the orbit is found as

v2

2
r
(7.063)2 3.986 105
=

2
7000
= 31.9999 km2 /s2

E =

(5)
(6)
(7)

2. A particle moves so that its position vector is given by the equation ~r = cos (t)i +
sin (t)j where is constant.
a) Show that the velocity, ~v = ~r , of the particle is perpendicular to the position, ~r.
b) Determine the angular momentum of the particle.
c) Show that ~h is a constant vector.
SOLUTION
a) First we determine the velocity vector, which is straightforward since the system is in
an inertial frame
d
~r
dt
d
d
=
cos (t)i + sin (t)j
dt
dt

= sin (t)i + cos (t)j

~v =

(8)
(9)
(10)

Then to show the vectors are perpendicular, check if the dot product is equal to zero.
~r ~v = (cos (t)i + sin (t)j) ( sin (t)i + cos (t)j)
= cos (t)( sin (t)) + sin (t)( cos (t))
= 0

(11)
(12)
(13)

which verifies that the vectors are perpendicular.

b) The angular momentum of the particle can be found in two ways (again, I didnt specify
vector or magnitude). Recall that sin2 () + cos2 () = 1.
~h = ~r ~v
= (cos (t)i + sin (t)j) ( sin (t)i + cos (t)j)
= k

(14)
(15)
(16)

alternatively, since we have shown the vectors are perpendicular

h = ||r|| ||v||
=

(17)
(18)

c) This is trivial since the problem statement says that is a constant and the vector
~h = k.
Therefore, ~h must be a constant vector.

3. Given a satellite at = 90 , the speed and range are observed to be v = 13.716 km/s
and r = 7408 km, respectively. Find the eccentricity of the orbit.
SOLUTION
When a satellite on any conic section has = 90 , the range, r is equal to the semi-latus
rectum (AKA the parameter), p. This can also be seen by solving the polar form of the
p
conic equation, r = 1+e cos()
. The definition of the parameter is p = a(1 e2 ), so we need
to find the semi-major axis. The energy equation is used for this purpose.
v2

2
r

=
2a

= 4951 km
a =
2E

E =

(19)
(20)
(21)

finally we use the definition of the parameter to compute eccentricity

p = r = a(1 e2 )

e = 1.58

(22)

Hopefully you noticed that the semi-major axis, energy, and eccentricity all agree that this
conic section is a hyperbola.

4. An earth satellite has an observed perigee height of 185.2 km and apogee height of
1111.2 km. Find the period of the satellites orbit.
SOLUTION
First we have to convert the altitudes to radii, which gives rp = 6563.2 km and ra = 7489.2
km. To find the semi-major axis, we average the distances
a=

rp + ra
= 7026.2 km
2

Using the semi-major axis, we can directly compute the orbit period
s
a3
T P = 2
= 5861 s 98 min

(23)

(24)

5. An Earth satellite is on an elliptical orbit with a perigee radius of 7,200 km and an

apogee radius of 42,000 km. Determine the following properties of the satellites orbit:
a) semimajor axis
b) orbit period
c) eccentricity
d) specific angular momentum
e) specific mechanical energy
f) velocity when the satellite is at the end of the semiminor axis
SOLUTION
a)
a=

ra + rp
= 24, 600 km
2

(25)

b)
s
T P = 2

a3
= 38, 398 s = 640 min = 10.7 hours

c)
e=

d)
h=

p =

ra rp
= 0.7073
ra + rp

p
a (1 e2 ) = 70, 001 km2 /s2

e)
E =

= 8.1016 km2 /s2

2a

(26)

(27)

(28)

(29)

f) The key to this part is to remember that at the end of the semi-minor axis, the radius
is equal to the semi-major axis, a.

= 8.1016 km2 /s2

2a
v2
E =

2
r
r


= 4.0253 km/s
v =
2 E
r

E =

(30)
(31)
(32)

6. Starting with the position vector in polar form, ~r = r

er , and recalling that the polar
ez :
~ =
frame rotates relative to the inertial frame with an angular velocity of
a) Derive the velocity and acceleration in polar form. In other words, what are the vectors
~r and ~r?
b) Write Newtons Second Law in polar form.
c) Use the Universal Law of Gravitation to derive the differential equations of orbital
motion for r(t) in polar form. You may write this in vector form or as a set of two scalar
equations. (NOTE : er = r)
verify that angular
d) Given that the angular momentum, h, can be written as h = r2 ,
momentum is conserved. (Hint: use the results from part c).
SOLUTION
a) As the polar coordinate system is not inertial in the orbit problem, we have to take the
derivative of the rotating frame (see class notes and/or text book).
~r =
=
=

~ ~r
~r +
ez r
r
er +
er
e
r
er + r

(33)
(34)
(35)

Similarly for the acceleration,

~ ~r
~r = ~r +
d
e ) +
ez (r
e )
(r
er + r
er + r
=
dt




2

= r r er + 2r + r e

(36)
(37)
(38)

b) Newtons Second Law says that the sum of the forces equals mass times acceleration,
so we have
h


 i
2

~
F = m r r er + 2r + r e
(39)

c) Noting that er = r and that for a vector equation to be equal, the components on each
side must be equal, we get the equations of motion in vector form
h


 i
GM m
2 er = m r r2 er + 2r + r e
(40)
r
or in scalar form (components being equal)
GM
r r2 = 2
r

2r + r = 0
6

(41)
(42)

thus, Eqn. (41) defines the dynamical motion and Eqn. (42) is a constraint on the motion.
d) Given the definition of angular momentum and the definition of a conserved quantity,
we write
d
d  2 
(43)
(h) =
r
dt
dt
(44)
= 2rr + r2


= r 2r + r
(45)
= r(0)
= 0

(46)
(47)

The last step (from Eqn. (45) to (46)) is exactly Eqn. (42), part of the equations of
motion. Therefore, h is conserved as its time derivative is equal to zero. Another way to
look at this is at Eqn. (45), it does not make sense for r = 0 (this orbit is not physical),
so the parenthetical term must go to zero. We showed that it did indeed go to zero from
Eqn. (42).