Orbits through polytropes

Abstract

We describe how orbital tunnels could be used to transport payloads through the Earth. If you use a brachistochrone for the tunnel, the body forces in the tunnel become overwhelmingly large for small angular distances traveled. Projectiles move along an orbital tunnel faster than they would along a brachistochrone connecting the same points but the body force components cancel. We describe how parabolic Keplerian orbits outside the object merge onto quasi-Keplerian orbits inside the object. We use models of the interior of the Earth with three values of the polytropic index (n) to calculate interior orbits that travel between surface points. The n = 3 results are also scaled to the Sun. Numerical integrations of the equations describing polytropes were used to generate the initial models. Numerical integration of the equations of motion are then used to calculate the angular distance you can travel along the surface and the traversal time as a function of the parabolic periapsis distance for each model. Trajectories through objects of low central condensation show a focussing effect that decreases as the central condensation increases. Analytic solutions for the trajectories in a homogeneous sphere are derived and compared to the numeric results. The results can be scaled to other planets, stars, or even globular clusters.