Minimal impulse requirements for disorbiting satellites.

Irwin Blumenthal

ResearchPublished 1958

A study of the minimal velocity impulse which must be imparted to satellites on circular and elliptical orbits to "knock them out of orbit" and cause them to impact the earth. It is concluded that the idea of "shooting down an unfriendly satellite" may not be as ridiculous as supposed and that the development of proper techniques will afford us a desirable form of defensive counteraction.

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Blumenthal, Irwin, Minimal impulse requirements for disorbiting satellites. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1958. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM2276.html.
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