A to Z Formula

What is the orbital speed of a body traveling along an elliptic orbit?

In astrodynamics, the orbital speed of a body traveling along an elliptic orbit can be computed from the orbital-energy-invariance law. It is one of the equations that model the motion of orbiting bodies.

Under standard assumptions the orbital speed (v) of a body traveling along an elliptic orbit is computed from the orbital-energy-invariance law as,

v =  orbital speed of a body traveling along an elliptic orbit

μ = is the standard gravitational parameter

r = the distance between the orbiting bodies

a = the length of the semi-major axis