The simulation below represents a space craft orbiting the Sun in an orbit similar to Earth. Think of it as having already escaped Earth's gravity but it is still flying "formation" with the Earth. The sharp end of the space craft represents it's exact position, the rest of space craft is shown many times larger than real size so you can see it. The Sun is shown about 4 times larger than real size so you can see it better.

To fire the engine, enter the thrust in gees and time in seconds that you want the engine to fire, then click the Fire button. As the engine fires the time will count down to 0 at which time it will stop. While the engine is firing, the button label changes to "Stop". You can click the "Stop" button at any time to stop the engine early. The change will be in the direction the space craft is currently pointing. For this simulation, 1 g is 10 m/s^2 or 0.01 km.s^2.

Each click of the +10 button turns the space craft 10 degrees clockwise and each click of the -10 button turns it 10 degrees counterclockwise.

The Faster and Slower buttons will change the speed of the simulation. Use them if the simulation seems too slow or fast for easy viewing. WARNING! Too fast will cause problems. 1024 times faster is about the limit for orbits that get VERY close to the Sun. The farther you stay from the Sun, the faster you can safely go.

The Drop button will drop off a package. You will not see the package until the next time you fire the engine because the package is too close to the space craft until you move away from it.