Launch window: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:35, 8 September 2016

Revision as of 18:07, 2 January 2017

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In the context of [[spaceflight]], a '''launch window''' is a time period during which a particular vehicle ([[rocket]], [[Space Shuttle]], etc.) must be launched in order to reach its intended target. If the rocket is not launched within this time period, it has to wait for the next window.<ref>[httphttps://www.nasa.gov/audiencemissions/forstudentshighlights/brainbites/nonflash/bb_home_launchwindowschedule101.html What is a launch window?]</ref>

For trips into largely arbitrary [[Earth orbit]]s, no specific launch time is required. But if the spacecraft intends to [[space rendezvous|rendezvous]] with an object already in orbit, the launch must be carefully timed to occur around the times that the target vehicle's [[orbital plane (astronomy)|orbital plane]] intersects the launch site.