In the Footsteps of Warren B. Hamilton: New Ideas in Earth Science
This unusual book, published to honor the late iconoclast and geologist extraordinaire Warren Bell Hamilton, comprises a diverse, cross-disciplinary collection of bold new ideas in Earth and planetary science. Some chapters audaciously point out all-too-obvious deficits in prevailing theories. Other ideas are embryonic and in need of testing and still others are downright outrageous. Some are doubtless right and others likely wrong. See if you can tell which is which. See if your students can tell which is which. This unique book is a rich resource for researchers at all levels looking for interesting, unusual, and off-beat ideas to investigate or set as student projects.
Terrestrial ejecta suborbital transport and the rotating frame transform
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Published:May 03, 2022
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CiteCitation
Thomas H.S. Harris*, 2022. "Terrestrial ejecta suborbital transport and the rotating frame transform", In the Footsteps of Warren B. Hamilton: New Ideas in Earth Science, Gillian R. Foulger, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Donna M. Jurdy, Carol A. Stein, Keith A. Howard, Seth Stein
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ABSTRACT
Suborbital analysis (SA) is presented here as the study of ballistics around a spherical planet. SA is the subset of orbital mechanics where the elliptic trajectory intersects Earth’s surface at launch point A and fall point B, known as the A-to-B suborbital problem, both launch and fall points being vector variables. Spreadsheet tools are offered for solution to this problem, based on the preferred simplified two-body model. Although simplistic in top-level description, this problem places essential reliance on reference frame transformations. Launch conditions in the local frame of point A and rotating with Earth require conversion to the nonrotating frame for correct trajectory definition, with the reverse process required for complete solution. This application of dynamics requires diligent accounting to avoid invalid results. Historic examples are provided that lack the requisite treatment, with the appropriate set of solution equations also included. Complementary spreadsheet tools SASolver and Helix solve the A-to-B problem for loft duration from minimum through 26 h. All provided spreadsheet workbook files contain the novel three-dimensional latitude and longitude plotter GlobePlot. A global ejecta pattern data set calculated using SASolver is presented. As visualized through GlobePlot, SASolver and Helix provide solutions to different forms of the A-to-B problem, in an effort to avoid errors similar to the historic misstep examples offered as a supplement. Operating guidelines and limitations of the tools are presented along with diagrams from each step. The goal is to enable mechanically valid interdisciplinary terrestrial ejecta research through novel perspective and quality graphical tools, so others may succeed where 1960s National Aeronautics and Space Administration researchers did not.
- angular momentum
- dynamics
- ejecta
- ellipticity
- equations
- geodesy
- hypervelocity impacts
- impact features
- impact melts
- impactites
- impacts
- melts
- metamorphic rocks
- meteors
- motions
- orbital observations
- orbits
- physical properties
- planetary interiors
- planets
- tectonophysics
- terrestrial comparison
- trajectories
- GlobePlot
- suborbital analysis