Apogee kick motor
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An apogee kick motor (AKM) is a
An apogee kick motor is used, for example, for satellites launched into a
More generally, firing a rocket engine to place a vehicle into the desired final orbit from a transfer orbit is labelled an "orbital insertion burn" or, if the desired orbit is circular, a circularization burn. For orbits around bodies other than Earth, it may be referred to as an apoapsis burn.
The amount of fuel carried on board a satellite directly affects its lifetime, therefore it is desirable to make the apogee kick maneuver as efficient as possible. The mass of most geostationary satellites at the beginning of their operational life in geostationary orbit is typically about half that when they separated from their vehicle in geostationary transfer orbit, with the other half having been fuel expended in the apogee kick maneuver.[2]
Use on interplanetary missions
A Star 48 kick motor was used to launch the New Horizons spacecraft towards Pluto.[3]
See also
- Advanced Cryogenic Evolved Stage
- Centaur
- Hohmann transfer orbit
- Liquid apogee engine
- List of upper stages
- Multistage rocket
- Space tug
References
- ^ a b Jonathan McDowell, "Kick In the Apogee: 40 years of upper stage applications for solid rocket motors, 1957–1997", 33rd AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference, July 4, 1997. abstract. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
- ISBN 0-471-05649-9.
- ^ "New Horizons Launch Preparations Move Ahead". The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. 18 November 2005.