orbiter
Path-locked space traveler
An orbiter is a spacecraft or satellite designed to orbit a celestial body rather than land on it: The Mars orbiter sent back detailed images of the surface.
The term distinguishes from landers and rovers.
NASA's space shuttles were officially called orbiters—the winged vehicle that carried crew and cargo while external tanks and boosters fell away.
Thorough examination or tool
- satelliteOrbiting celestial body
- moduleIndependent functional component
- capsuleEnclosed dose container
- VoyagerNASA interstellar mission name
Cassini · Juno · Magellan · Galileo · Apollo · Soyuz · Hubble · ISS
Set into motion
- liftoffMoment of ascent
- countdownBackward enumeration to zero
- trajectoryPath of moving object
- mappingDiagram of correspondences
reconnaissance · flyby · aerobraking · communication · NASA · ESA
Violent governmental overthrow
- rotationTurning on an axis
- periodPunctuation ending sentences
- apogeeHighest orbital point
- perigeeOrbit's closest point
inclination · velocity · altitude · decay · propulsion · delta-v · thrust · burn
Red planet, war deity
- VenusLove goddess, or planet
- JupiterLargest solar system planet
- SaturnRinged gas giant
- MercuryMessenger god or planet
lunar · planetary · asteroid · comet · rings · atmosphere · spectrometer · magnetometer
probe
Thorough examination or tool
- satelliteOrbiting celestial body
- moduleIndependent functional component
- capsuleEnclosed dose container
Voyager · Cassini · Juno · Magellan · Galileo · Apollo · Soyuz · Hubble · ISS · rendezvous
launch
Set into motion
- liftoffMoment of ascent
- countdownBackward enumeration to zero
- trajectoryPath of moving object
mapping · reconnaissance · flyby · aerobraking · communication · NASA · ESA
revolution
Violent governmental overthrow
perigee · inclination · velocity · altitude · decay · propulsion · delta-v · thrust · burn · geocentric
Mars
Red planet, war deity
Mercury · lunar · planetary · asteroid · comet · rings · atmosphere · spectrometer · magnetometer · terrain
- NASAApollo, Artemis, astronauts, Cape Canaveral, Hubble
- space explorationrockets, Saturn V, satellites, mission, Falcon Heavy
- spacecraftspacecraft, starships, spaceship, Voyager 1, rocket ships
- spaceflightlaunch, astronaut, spacecraft, liftoff, countdown
- carnival ridesFerris wheel, carousel, bumper cars, merry-go-round, tilt-a-whirl
- dating typesbad boy, player, gold digger, nice guy, hopeless romantic
orbiterlander
Spacecraft for surface arrival
rover · impactor · penetrator · crasher
- orbital tiltAngle of rotational axis
- lunar orbitPath around Earth's satellite
- Earth orbitPath around our planet
- orbital sanderPower tool spinning abrasive
- heliocentric orbitRevolution around the sun
- satellite orbitsPaths spacecraft follow around bodies
orbit, orbiting, heliocentric orbit, transorbital, orbits, orbited, orbital, suborbital, orbiters