• d00ery@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    This is a sling. Bottom right corner is a catapult and uses stored energy (the elastic - sorry if wrong wording.) To me at least the idea of a sling that pivots around the user’s hand is much closer to the action of using a planet’s gravitational pull to sling a satellite craft onwards.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sling_(weapon)

    • Ziglin (it/they)@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      You wouldn’t want to do it with a satellite and I’ve only ever heard of it being called a slingshot (which usually refers to the device pictured in the meme, likely increasing clarity) or a gravity assist.

      The motion does seem to be more accurate though.

      • d00ery@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        Good point! A satellite is more likely to orbit a planet monitoring things I guess? It’s been a while since I’ve played Kerbal Space Program.

        • Ziglin (it/they)@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          Satellites are objects orbiting a planet or some other smaller object. One could argue that it is a satellite on the way though too.

          I find the idea of an object like the moon doing a gravity assist around Jupiter to get to us very amusing.