What worries me is that they’re stealing a little bit of Jupiter’s momentum every time. If they’re not careful it’ll fall towards the sun and we’ll have a Jupiter landing on our heads.
As the other commenter has stated, it’s not about the gravity - because you have to ultimately counter that gravity to escape. But it is about the kinetic energy of the planet as it orbits.
Jupiter is used as a gravity assist to launch spacecraft further. This maneuver is known as a slingshot.
Ah ok. I remember we also did this with the Moon for one if the Apollo missions
What worries me is that they’re stealing a little bit of Jupiter’s momentum every time. If they’re not careful it’ll fall towards the sun and we’ll have a Jupiter landing on our heads.
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It’s alright, we send someone out every few years to give it a bit of a wind up, like a grandfather clock.
sg1 taught us that, its either jupiter, or another gas giant or a black hole.
Not a physicist but i don’t think a black hole would work…
Why wouldn’t it? A gravity well is a gravity well. As long as you remain outside the event horizon it should work in the same way.
As the other commenter has stated, it’s not about the gravity - because you have to ultimately counter that gravity to escape. But it is about the kinetic energy of the planet as it orbits.