Deep Space Course

Learning observatoryDeep Space Course

Mission control Course map Lessons Labs Practice Journal Settings

Field rule

What was measured? Which model connects it to the claim?

Acquiring signal

All investigations

Interactive laboratory

Orbit as Continuous Free Fall

Why does a planet keep missing its star?

Compare Euler and velocity Verlet, vary launch speed, and expose numerical error through energy drift.

Launch console

Initial speed0.85 × circularTimestep0.0020 yr

Predict before moving the control

Escape begins at √2 ≈ 1.414 times circular speed. Which curve will fail first as you increase the timestep?

Trajectory

bound

Speed

25.3 km/s

Euler drift

3.60e-1

Verlet drift

1.52e-4

Orbital plane · AUVerlet / Euler

Relative energy drift

A conservation law becomes a numerical diagnostic.

Download Python notebook