Hohmann transfer

noun — 2 senses

Hohmann transfer

noun

Etymology Named after Walter Hohmann, the German engineer who described it.

1

Aerospace, Astronautics, Business, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences An elliptical orbit used to transfer a spacecraft between two circular orbits of different altitudes in the same plane, with the periapsis of the orbit being tangent to the smaller circular orbit and its apoapsis being tangent to the larger circular orbit.

2

Aerospace, Astronautics, Business, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences The process of using such an orbit to transfer between two other orbits.

Coordinate terms
bi-elliptic transfer

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