Recent content by elorc

I know this has been done on a larger scale but I was thinking of playing around with something simpler. My idea was to try to build a simple little robot that follows the point of a laser. It doesn't have to be elaborate: even if it just follows the laser around a few inches in front of it...

Well I had a reply written all up and it got blown away since my session timed out. Bah. :) I'll do my best to retype it as I had it. First, I want to thank you gneill for taking the time to help me so far. It's greatly appreciated! We were not provided an initial orbit in this...

That's the problem, these Hohmann orbits are entirely new to me (and I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm having trouble with this because it seems as though it should be pretty simple). I don't know the math behind them and it's not presented in the class. The most I have is a table of the planets...

Homework Statement (a) In terms of energy expenditure: 1. Which planet in the solar system is easiest to reach? 2. Which major body in the solar system is hardest to reach? Why, and what shape orbit would be needed to get there? 3. Which of the following scenarios requires more...