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If a spaceship ran out of fuel somewhere in space between Earth and Mars, does it slowly drift off to Sun?

If a spaceship ran out of fuel somewhere in space between Earth and Mars, does it slowly drift off to Sun?

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1

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Pretty much what the title is saying. I feel like I am missing something fundamental here and this is driving me crazy.

Does a spaceship which is out of Earth's gravity should drift to Sun eventually?

gravity

share|improve this question

edited 8 hours ago

peterh

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anilit99anilit99

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• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  $begingroup$
  There is also a "space exploration" stack exchange, where such questions might be asked.
  $endgroup$
  – James K
  7 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  $begingroup$
  The ship is in an orbit, with a lot of speed: the speed it had from being on Earth, combined with the speed it got from burning fuel. It's not like an out of fuel boat drifting on the ocean.
  $endgroup$
  – PM 2Ring
  7 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment
 | 

1

1

$begingroup$

Pretty much what the title is saying. I feel like I am missing something fundamental here and this is driving me crazy.

Does a spaceship which is out of Earth's gravity should drift to Sun eventually?

gravity

share|improve this question

edited 8 hours ago

peterh

2,24333 gold badges1313 silver badges3535 bronze badges

asked 8 hours ago

anilit99anilit99

611 bronze badge

New contributor

anilit99 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

$endgroup$

• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  $begingroup$
  There is also a "space exploration" stack exchange, where such questions might be asked.
  $endgroup$
  – James K
  7 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  $begingroup$
  The ship is in an orbit, with a lot of speed: the speed it had from being on Earth, combined with the speed it got from burning fuel. It's not like an out of fuel boat drifting on the ocean.
  $endgroup$
  – PM 2Ring
  7 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment
 | 

$begingroup$

Pretty much what the title is saying. I feel like I am missing something fundamental here and this is driving me crazy.

Does a spaceship which is out of Earth's gravity should drift to Sun eventually?

gravity

share|improve this question

edited 8 hours ago

peterh

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asked 8 hours ago

anilit99anilit99

611 bronze badge

New contributor

anilit99 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

$endgroup$

share|improve this question

edited 8 hours ago

peterh

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asked 8 hours ago

anilit99anilit99

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anilit99 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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share|improve this question

edited 8 hours ago

peterh

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asked 8 hours ago

anilit99anilit99

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edited 8 hours ago

peterh

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edited 8 hours ago

peterh

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asked 8 hours ago

anilit99anilit99

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asked 8 hours ago

anilit99anilit99

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2 Answers
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$begingroup$

What you're missing is some combination of the following:

• objects launched from Earth orbit are still in orbit around the Sun,


• objects in orbit don't need fuel to stay in orbit.

All the planets stay in orbit around the sun because orbits are generally long term stable.

A spacecraft flying from Earth to Mars follows a loop, like in the picture below.

Source

Most of that time, the engines aren't firing, it's just an orbit with higher eccentricity that takes some fuel to enter into, but once in that orbit, it travels that arc naturally.

Escaping Earth takes a lot of fuel, and additional fuel is used to enter the longer orbit after which, it's flying towards Mars, playing catch-up in a sense.

When close to Mars, adjustments and rockets to reduce velocity.

What would happen to the craft depends on where it runs out of fuel, but you said between Earth and Mars. It would either just enter a slightly longer than Earth orbit or, perhaps maybe crash into Mars, though I think a near miss is more likely.

What you're describing, almost happened once, voyager 1 to Jupiter, though the article's final sentence, the author writes rather poorly saying

"would have gotten almost to Jupiter, and then come back toward the
sun, which would not have been good"

That's only partly accurate. It would have almost made it to Jupiter, then stayed in a more elliptical orbit, moving closer to the sun for a while, only to fall further away again as the orbit continued.

share|improve this answer

edited 2 hours ago

uhoh

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answered 5 hours ago

userLTKuserLTK

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$endgroup$

add a comment
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0

$begingroup$

Normally a spacecraft would use most of its fuel just leaving the earth. Retaining some secondary fuel for maneuvers. If it runs out of fuel early during liftoff it depends on how early it ran out to know what happens. it could either fall back to earth or end up in earth's orbit.

You'd expect if it runs out just a little before planned burnout time the spacecraft would be on a course to Mars but would have an altered trajectory.

During a planned launch to Mars, the spacecraft will be in free motion moving at a high velocity to get it to Mars.

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

jmhjmh

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2

$begingroup$

What you're missing is some combination of the following:

• objects launched from Earth orbit are still in orbit around the Sun,


• objects in orbit don't need fuel to stay in orbit.

All the planets stay in orbit around the sun because orbits are generally long term stable.

A spacecraft flying from Earth to Mars follows a loop, like in the picture below.

Source

Most of that time, the engines aren't firing, it's just an orbit with higher eccentricity that takes some fuel to enter into, but once in that orbit, it travels that arc naturally.

Escaping Earth takes a lot of fuel, and additional fuel is used to enter the longer orbit after which, it's flying towards Mars, playing catch-up in a sense.

When close to Mars, adjustments and rockets to reduce velocity.

What would happen to the craft depends on where it runs out of fuel, but you said between Earth and Mars. It would either just enter a slightly longer than Earth orbit or, perhaps maybe crash into Mars, though I think a near miss is more likely.

What you're describing, almost happened once, voyager 1 to Jupiter, though the article's final sentence, the author writes rather poorly saying

"would have gotten almost to Jupiter, and then come back toward the
sun, which would not have been good"

That's only partly accurate. It would have almost made it to Jupiter, then stayed in a more elliptical orbit, moving closer to the sun for a while, only to fall further away again as the orbit continued.

share|improve this answer

edited 2 hours ago

uhoh

10.5k33 gold badges2929 silver badges9292 bronze badges

answered 5 hours ago

userLTKuserLTK

17.3k11 gold badge2323 silver badges5050 bronze badges

$endgroup$

add a comment
 | 

2

$begingroup$

What you're missing is some combination of the following:

• objects launched from Earth orbit are still in orbit around the Sun,


• objects in orbit don't need fuel to stay in orbit.

All the planets stay in orbit around the sun because orbits are generally long term stable.

A spacecraft flying from Earth to Mars follows a loop, like in the picture below.

Source

Most of that time, the engines aren't firing, it's just an orbit with higher eccentricity that takes some fuel to enter into, but once in that orbit, it travels that arc naturally.

Escaping Earth takes a lot of fuel, and additional fuel is used to enter the longer orbit after which, it's flying towards Mars, playing catch-up in a sense.

When close to Mars, adjustments and rockets to reduce velocity.

What would happen to the craft depends on where it runs out of fuel, but you said between Earth and Mars. It would either just enter a slightly longer than Earth orbit or, perhaps maybe crash into Mars, though I think a near miss is more likely.

What you're describing, almost happened once, voyager 1 to Jupiter, though the article's final sentence, the author writes rather poorly saying

"would have gotten almost to Jupiter, and then come back toward the
sun, which would not have been good"

That's only partly accurate. It would have almost made it to Jupiter, then stayed in a more elliptical orbit, moving closer to the sun for a while, only to fall further away again as the orbit continued.

share|improve this answer

edited 2 hours ago

uhoh

10.5k33 gold badges2929 silver badges9292 bronze badges

answered 5 hours ago

userLTKuserLTK

17.3k11 gold badge2323 silver badges5050 bronze badges

$endgroup$

add a comment
 | 

$begingroup$

What you're missing is some combination of the following:

• objects launched from Earth orbit are still in orbit around the Sun,


• objects in orbit don't need fuel to stay in orbit.

All the planets stay in orbit around the sun because orbits are generally long term stable.

A spacecraft flying from Earth to Mars follows a loop, like in the picture below.

Source

Most of that time, the engines aren't firing, it's just an orbit with higher eccentricity that takes some fuel to enter into, but once in that orbit, it travels that arc naturally.

Escaping Earth takes a lot of fuel, and additional fuel is used to enter the longer orbit after which, it's flying towards Mars, playing catch-up in a sense.

When close to Mars, adjustments and rockets to reduce velocity.

What would happen to the craft depends on where it runs out of fuel, but you said between Earth and Mars. It would either just enter a slightly longer than Earth orbit or, perhaps maybe crash into Mars, though I think a near miss is more likely.

What you're describing, almost happened once, voyager 1 to Jupiter, though the article's final sentence, the author writes rather poorly saying

"would have gotten almost to Jupiter, and then come back toward the
sun, which would not have been good"

That's only partly accurate. It would have almost made it to Jupiter, then stayed in a more elliptical orbit, moving closer to the sun for a while, only to fall further away again as the orbit continued.

share|improve this answer

edited 2 hours ago

uhoh

10.5k33 gold badges2929 silver badges9292 bronze badges

answered 5 hours ago

userLTKuserLTK

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$endgroup$

share|improve this answer

edited 2 hours ago

uhoh

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answered 5 hours ago

userLTKuserLTK

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edited 2 hours ago

uhoh

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edited 2 hours ago

uhoh

10.5k33 gold badges2929 silver badges9292 bronze badges

answered 5 hours ago

userLTKuserLTK

17.3k11 gold badge2323 silver badges5050 bronze badges

answered 5 hours ago

userLTKuserLTK

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0

$begingroup$

Normally a spacecraft would use most of its fuel just leaving the earth. Retaining some secondary fuel for maneuvers. If it runs out of fuel early during liftoff it depends on how early it ran out to know what happens. it could either fall back to earth or end up in earth's orbit.

You'd expect if it runs out just a little before planned burnout time the spacecraft would be on a course to Mars but would have an altered trajectory.

During a planned launch to Mars, the spacecraft will be in free motion moving at a high velocity to get it to Mars.

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

jmhjmh

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$endgroup$

add a comment
 | 

0

$begingroup$

Normally a spacecraft would use most of its fuel just leaving the earth. Retaining some secondary fuel for maneuvers. If it runs out of fuel early during liftoff it depends on how early it ran out to know what happens. it could either fall back to earth or end up in earth's orbit.

You'd expect if it runs out just a little before planned burnout time the spacecraft would be on a course to Mars but would have an altered trajectory.

During a planned launch to Mars, the spacecraft will be in free motion moving at a high velocity to get it to Mars.

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

jmhjmh

2,56611 gold badge44 silver badges2020 bronze badges

$endgroup$

add a comment
 | 

$begingroup$

Normally a spacecraft would use most of its fuel just leaving the earth. Retaining some secondary fuel for maneuvers. If it runs out of fuel early during liftoff it depends on how early it ran out to know what happens. it could either fall back to earth or end up in earth's orbit.

You'd expect if it runs out just a little before planned burnout time the spacecraft would be on a course to Mars but would have an altered trajectory.

During a planned launch to Mars, the spacecraft will be in free motion moving at a high velocity to get it to Mars.

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

jmhjmh

2,56611 gold badge44 silver badges2020 bronze badges

$endgroup$

share|improve this answer

answered 8 hours ago

jmhjmh

2,56611 gold badge44 silver badges2020 bronze badges

answered 8 hours ago

jmhjmh

2,56611 gold badge44 silver badges2020 bronze badges

answered 8 hours ago

jmhjmh

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