Astrodynamics

Abstract Astrodynamics, which includes the topics of orbital mechanics, celestial mechanics, and dynamical astronomy, is the study of the motion of natural and artificial bodies in space. Its fundamental objective is to determine and predict the position of celestial bodies on which the dominating force is gravity. Astrodynamics is experimentally based on the observations of the planets and moons and on Kepler’s laws, and is theoretically based on the laws of classical mechanics and Newton’s and Einstein’s laws of motion. Its study is important to spacecraft missions because the trajectory of the spacecraft is a fundamental design parameter with major implications for all subsystems of the spacecraft. This chapter addresses only the fundamentals of astrodynamics that are important to spacecraft missions. For a more detailed exposition of the topic, appropriate references are identified.