deorbit

verb, noun — 3 senses

deorbit

verb

Etymology From de- + orbit.

1

To cause to leave orbit.

  • 1996, DIANE Publishing Company, Intelligence Threat Handbook The principal improvements in the systems are the ability to return film canisters without deorbiting the spacecraft, and the extension of orbital […]
  • First, an orbiting weapon required elaborate spacecraft systems, such as retro-rockets to deorbit it, others to guide it, and still others to arm it.1998, Curtis Peebles, High Frontier: The U.S. Air Force & the Military Space Program - Page 59
1 more example
  • […] process will be initiated and over approximately one year the satellites will be maneuvered into an orbit that will eventually safely deorbit them.2007, U.S. Government, Proposed fiscal year 2008 budget request for the Department of the Interior ... - Page 83
2

Of an orbiting object, such as a satellite: to leave orbit.

  • The Gemini emergency occurred when Gemini 8 deorbited and landed in the Northern Pacific 1000 miles south of Japan.1986, Gloria W. Heath, ed., Space Safety and Rescue, 1984-1985: Proceedings of Symposia, page 62
  • Vostok 3 deorbited first, at 09.24 MT on 15 August, followed six minutes later by Vostok 4.2001, Rex Hall, David Shayler, The Rocket Men: Vostok & Voskhod, the First Soviet Manned Spaceflights, page 192:
1 more example
  • Viktor is a friend of mine," she says. "He tells me that he has had strange dreams since Mir deorbited."2002, Dan Simmons, “The End of Gravity”, in Worlds Enough & Time: Five Tales of Speculative Fiction, page 251:
Derived terms
deorbit burn

deorbit

noun

Etymology From de- + orbit.

1

The act or process of leaving orbit.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.