Continuous Thrust

The simulation spiral.gsim shows four test particles orbiting the Sun at a distance of about 1 AU. Each particle is accelerating at a rate of 10 microns / second2 as follows:

  • The maroon particle is constantly accelerating in a retrograde direction.
  • The green particle is constantly accelerating radially towards the Sun.
  • The orange particle is constantly accelerating radially away from the Sun.
  • The blue particle is constantly accelerating in a prograde direction

    It is interesting to note that only the particles that are accelerating prograde or retrograde have their orbits altered. The orbits of the objects that are accelerating radially towards and away from the Sun are virtually unaltered.