Aerocapture is a maneuver to get to orbit. Unlike the orbit insertion with fuel, instead it uses an atmosphere of a planet (like Venus), uses it to slow down, and raise its periapsis. It costs very cheap and this can save fuel for orbit insertion. Aerocapture works similarly to aerobraking since they both use the atmosphere of a planet to slow down a rocket. The only difference is that aerobraking lowers the apoapsis (highest point in the orbit).
Process[]
An example of aerocapture. The planet used in this example is Neptune.
When a rocket/spacecraft enters a sphere of influence of a planet, it firstly enters the atmosphere of the planet. Heat shields are used when that happens to protect the spacecraft from burning up. It is sometimes covered in fairings too, but it has no parachutes. Once it escapes the atmosphere of that planet, the heat shield is jettisoned, but the covering (the fairings) is still there (attached to the rocket). Once it nears the apoapsis, the fairings detach from the rocket, since they have no use now. Then at the apoapsis the spacecraft burns a little bit to raise the periapsis, also known as the "Periapsis Raise Maneuver". Once it is done, it finally orbits the planet.
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Trivia[]
- In real life, several spacecraft had did this orbital maneuver.
- Most players of Spaceflight Simulator use this to save fuel.