It's super un-intuitive, but you're indirectly harnessing the gravitational pote... | Hacker News

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perihelions on May 11, 2024 | parent | context | favorite | on: Nasa’s Roman Mission Will Hunt for Primordial Blac...

It's super un-intuitive, but you're indirectly harnessing the gravitational potential energy of lowering your propellant into a gravity well and leaving it there. The overall orbital energy gain of the spacecraft can exceed the chemical energy of the fuel.

lxgr on May 11, 2024 [–]

Wow, that's an amazing intuitive explanation of "where the extra energy comes from" in an Oberth effect burn that I haven't heard before. Thank you!

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