That’s true for why it takes more careful aim to get to the sun than deep space, but not why it literally takes more energy, more work, more fuel to get into the sun than it does to get away from it. That part is just like the fact that reaching space is easy, but remaining in orbit is hard.
Earth is already moving at orbital velocity around the sun. Escape velocity for the solar system from here is about 40 km/s, and we’re already orbiting at about 30 km/s. So getting away needs a delta v of about 10 km/s, but hitting the sun needs a delta v of 30 km/s.
hah, no, it really, really isn’t like that at all. shooting straight north or south, for example, is really hard. going in the opposite direction of the earth’s orbit is hard too.
earth is spinning around the sun. going in the direction the earth is trying to escape the sun from is easy.
I have a pretty reasonable grasp of delta V. While my comment is flippant, you can launch Eastward from the equator any day and end up in space: deep space if you have sufficient velocity (though usually you’d do that with one or more gravity assists). The sun is the only other place you can go any day, but there’s huge angular velocity to overcome to make a direct shot.
It really really is the case mathematically that if you just want to go to deep space it’s not as difficult as trying to figure out how to go to a particular place, as anyone who has ever done trajectory planning with STK will tell you. More difficult from a cost and engineering perspective, sure, but mathematically easier to just shoot in a direction at escape velocity for the sun whatever day you want.
I mean yeah, the sun is in one place, space is basically anywhere else. It’s easier to shoot anywhere than to shoot somewhere.
That’s true for why it takes more careful aim to get to the sun than deep space, but not why it literally takes more energy, more work, more fuel to get into the sun than it does to get away from it. That part is just like the fact that reaching space is easy, but remaining in orbit is hard.
Earth is already moving at orbital velocity around the sun. Escape velocity for the solar system from here is about 40 km/s, and we’re already orbiting at about 30 km/s. So getting away needs a delta v of about 10 km/s, but hitting the sun needs a delta v of 30 km/s.
hah, no, it really, really isn’t like that at all. shooting straight north or south, for example, is really hard. going in the opposite direction of the earth’s orbit is hard too.
earth is spinning around the sun. going in the direction the earth is trying to escape the sun from is easy.
I have a pretty reasonable grasp of delta V. While my comment is flippant, you can launch Eastward from the equator any day and end up in space: deep space if you have sufficient velocity (though usually you’d do that with one or more gravity assists). The sun is the only other place you can go any day, but there’s huge angular velocity to overcome to make a direct shot.
It really really is the case mathematically that if you just want to go to deep space it’s not as difficult as trying to figure out how to go to a particular place, as anyone who has ever done trajectory planning with STK will tell you. More difficult from a cost and engineering perspective, sure, but mathematically easier to just shoot in a direction at escape velocity for the sun whatever day you want.