What is Astrodynamics?
Astrodynamics is the study of the dynamics of natural and artificial objects in space. It covers everything from how a satellite orbits the earth to how to get a rocket from Earth to Mars to how to best orbit a planet to fulfill a set of scientific requirements.
Blog series on Astrodynamics
I have a running series of posts in my blog where I go over the fundamentals of astrodynamics. It’s an active series so I’m still adding more posts but I’ve ordered the ones that are currently out below in the sequence that I would read them.
- What is the n-body problem
- Integrals of the 2-body problem
- Orbital elements of the 2-body problem
- Keplers laws – Celestial mechanics
- Lagrange F&G solution to the 2-body problem
Note: This list is not compete and will be updated periodically as new posts are dropped. If you want the weekly blog posts, not always about astrodynamics, emailed to you directly you can sign up for the email list here.
Further Reading
While my posts are an introduction to astrodynamics, they are far from complete and rigorous. If you want to expand on my posts I have compiled a list of textbooks that I think are good guides below.
Textbooks on astrodynamics
Ranked by personal preference. The books I like more are towards the top
- Introduction to Astrodynamics by Battin – $75 -This is the book I learned astrodynamics from. I highly recommend it. It’s a rather dense book and one could be forgiven for mistaking it for a math textbook. It is written by Richard Battin, one of the fathers of the field of astrodynamics. He helped design trajectories for the atlas missiles and the Apollo program and created many advancements in the field. This book is derived from a course he taught for over 25 years at MIT and has seen students including 3 who alter walked on the moon (Edwin “Buzz Aldrin, Edgar D. Mitchell. and David R. Scott)
- Fundamental of Astrodynamics by Bate, Mueller, and White (BMW) -$19- If you arent sure how much you’re into astrodynamics I suggest you get this book instead. This book is basically a distilled version of Battin’s where a lot of the math has been removed. For example, where Battin derived the eccentricity vector algebraically, BMW just gives it to you. If you are an undergrad trying to understand the fundamentals of astrodynamics read BMW. If however you are going into a graduate degree for astrodynamics and want to build a strong mathematical foundation, read and derive Battin.
- Fundamentals of Astrodynamics by Vallado – $100 – I have had this textbook recommended to me by friends and colleagues whom I hold in high regard. I have not read this textbook, simply due to to a lack of time. Once I go through this text I hope to revise and update this review
Textbooks on space system dynamis
- Analytical Mechanics of Space Systems by Schaub and Junkins- $107-This is the book which I learned dynamics from. While it devotes its second part to astrodynamcis the entire first port is devoted to traditional mechanics. Part one covers attitude dynamics and kinematics quite well. Part one closes out with a chapter on nonlinear spacecraft stability and control. Just a small factoid, this book is dedicated to Richard Battin, author of the first textbook talked about on this page.