News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Starship's Third Flight Test. Parent comment

Re:Starship's Third Flight Test by usrusr on Thursday March 14, 2024 @10:18AM (#39704352)
Orbit is a speed, not a distance. You could do a suborbital hop that has its highest point beyond the orbit of the moon. (if you aim very, very well)
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Starship's Third Flight Test by WithinReason on Thursday March 14, 2024 @10:27AM (#39704459)
At the same time, if your velocity vector is pointing towards the ground you're not achieving orbit no matter your speed
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Starship's Third Flight Test by the8472 on Thursday March 14, 2024 @10:40AM (#39704638)
It works if you're a black hole or a chunk of degenerate matter. For transatmospheric orbits being a large ball of iridium will work too.
[ Parent | on HN ]