The Physics of Space War: How Orbital Dynamics Constrain Space-to-Space Engagements
TL;DR — An Aerospace Corporation paper explaining why fighting in orbit looks nothing like science fiction: orbital mechanics sets the timing and the tactics.
From The Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy. The authors, a physicist who supports Air Force studies and an astrodynamicist, explain how orbital dynamics limit space-to-space engagements: how long manoeuvres take, how much fuel they cost, and what that means for attack and defence.
What it is: an analytical paper from a federally funded research centre that supports the Air Force, 25 pages. Aerospace’s own published file still carries a cover notice from its pre-release circulation; this copy is that published file, not the one first shared on Reddit (via gwern.net).
Where this came from
- r/obscurePDFs post, December 2020 — “X-post from r/gwern: The Physics of Space War: How Orbital Dynamics Constrain Space-to-Space Engagements”. Routing record: The obscurePDFs Subreddit
25 pages. A copy is archived locally against link rot; the header links the original source.