Orbital state vectors

Imagine you have a toy car, and you want to tell someone exactly where it is, how fast it's going, and in what direction it's moving. You could give them a lot of information about the car's location, speed, and direction, but it might be hard to keep track of all of that information.

That's where orbital state vectors come in. These are like special words that scientists and engineers use to describe exactly where a spacecraft or satellite is, how fast it's going, and which way it's moving. These special words are really convenient because they let us easily keep track of all the information we need about an object without having to write endless complicated sentences.

An orbital state vector has six parts - three represent the position of the spacecraft in space, and three represent how it's moving through space. The three parts that describe the position tell us where the spacecraft is in relation to something called the "center of mass" of whatever celestial body--like Earth--it orbits. The three parts that describe the velocity tell us how fast the spacecraft is moving, what direction it's moving in, and how much it's changing direction as it moves. All of this information is packed into just six numbers, which makes it really easy to keep track of.

So next time you hear someone talking about orbital state vectors, just picture a toy car moving really fast through space, and remember that those six numbers are all we need to keep track of exactly where it is and exactly how it's moving.