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1. 1

   Gravità di Newton

   • Newton's gravity · 12 min

     One law explains falling apples, the Moon's orbit and the path of every planet. Fire Newton's cannon and find out how.

2. 2

   Le leggi di Keplero

   • Kepler's laws · 14 min

     Three rules found from careful observations in the early 1600s still describe every orbit, from moons to exoplanets.

3. 3

   Gli elementi orbitali

   • Orbital elements · 14 min

     Six numbers pin down any orbit in space: its size, shape, tilt, orientation and where the body is on it.

4. 4

   Velocità orbitale: l'equazione vis-viva

   • Orbital speed: the vis-viva equation · 12 min

     One short equation gives the speed of anything in orbit at any point, if you know how far it is and the size of its orbit.

5. 5

   Velocità di fuga

   • Escape velocity · 12 min

     How fast do you need to go to leave a world for good? And why rockets do not actually need to reach it at the surface.

6. 6

   Perché un'orbita è una caduta

   • Why an orbit is a fall · 10 min

     Astronauts float not because there is no gravity up there, but because they are falling all the time, and missing.

7. 7

   Raggiungere l'orbita: la svolta gravitazionale

   • Reaching orbit · 12 min

     Why rockets go up for only a few seconds, then spend ten minutes going sideways: the gravity turn, staging and orbital insertion.

8. 8

   L'equazione del razzo e delta-v

   • The rocket equation and delta-v · 12 min

     Why rockets are mostly fuel, why they come in stages, and the one equation behind every mission's budget.

9. 9

   Hohmann trasferimenti

   • Hohmann transfers: changing orbits · 12 min

     To go higher you speed up, and then you arrive slower. The two-burn manoeuvre that moves satellites from low orbit to geostationary orbit.

10. 10

    Avviare le finestre

    • Launch windows: the road to Mars · 12 min

      You cannot aim at Mars, only at where Mars will be in eight months. Why Mars missions leave every 26 months, all at once.

11. 11

    Inserimento orbitale: essere catturati

    • Orbital insertion: getting captured · 12 min

      Arriving at a planet is the most dangerous minute of a mission: one burn decides whether you stay or fly past forever.

12. 12

    La gravità assiste

    • Gravity assists: the free slingshot · 12 min

      How Voyager, Cassini and New Horizons stole speed from planets, and why it never breaks the conservation of energy.

13. 13

    Punti di Lagrange

    • Lagrange points: balance in the sky · 11 min

      Five places around every pair of worlds where a spacecraft can ride along for free, and why the James Webb Space Telescope lives at one of them.

14. 14

    Rendezvous e attracco

    • Rendezvous: catching the space station · 11 min

      To catch something ahead of you in orbit, you drop lower and go slower-looking but faster. The counter-intuitive art of meeting in space.

15. 15

    Ritorno a casa: rientro

    • Coming home: reentry · 11 min

      A small push slows a spacecraft by a hundred metres per second, and the air takes care of the other 7.8 kilometres per second, as a fireball.

16. 16

    Parcelle per la carne suina

    Coming soon »

17. 17

    Asteroidi e comete

    Coming soon »

Gli strumenti e le lezioni utilizzano modelli semplificati solo per l’apprendimento, non devono essere utilizzati per la navigazione, la pianificazione delle missioni o qualsiasi decisione operativa. I certificati sono gratuiti e non accreditati. Leggi il disclaimer sui contenuti educativi