Go on TurboWarp for a faster experience: https://turbowarp.org/1260764223/ Simulation of an object (The ISS) in low earth orbit in the very sparce atmosphere. Controls:____________ w/s to zoom in and out (display shows the width of the graph x axis in units of time space to choose to start your own simulation Note that atmospheric conditions can vary significantly due to solar activity, so this is based on one model of the atmosphere I could find. Analysis of this current simulation shows that by around 145km in altitude drag forces become sufficient where the velocity stops increasing due to the increased gravity from decreased altitude and slows down due to the drag only. This is also where the solar arrays are likely to separate, reducing a major component of the drag, so after this altitude the simulation becomes inaccurate. It also appears that the last reasonable stable orbit occurs at 250km with a remaining decay time of 24hours. A majority of the slow down happens between 80km-35km, which is expected based on recent starship flights and mir reentry, the most drag comes after atmospheric heating, which started at about 100km for both the Mir Space Station and Starship. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deorbit_of_Mir#Process https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1LyxBnOvzvOxN Approximately 1hr20min into the stream reentry starts for starship flight 3
Blue line - Perigee (20km intervals) Red line - Apogee (20km intervals) Pink line - velocity (0.5km/s intervals) width of screen is shown in units of time Braintruffle on YouTube for the technique for stable orbits NASA Glenn Research Center for the drag formula. The constants used for drag were: Cd=2, A=1200m^2 m = 485727.06kg rho=varies kg/m^3 Parameters used for the orbit were: GM_Earth = 3.9860044188*10^14 m^3/s^2 R_Earth = 6378.009km Initial altitude = 400km and the atmospheric density was also sourced from NASA GRC: https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/beginners-guide-to-aeronautics/earth-atmosphere-equation-metric/ #Orbit Space Station
