Astronautics:the physics of space flight

McClintock, P. V. E. (2012) Astronautics:the physics of space flight. Contemporary Physics, 53 (5). pp. 456-457. ISSN 0010-7514

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Abstract

Space flight provides beautiful examples of the Newtonian dynamics that teachers of physics have always wanted to demonstrate for their students – the consequences of Newton’s Laws and gravitation writ large, and with the effect of dissipation also coming in at the launch of the spacecraft and (especially) duringmits re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. For physicists, the basic principles of space flight are self-evident, but how best to apply them is far less obvious.