Question

In space dynamics, which of the following manoeuvre is an out-of-plane manoeuvre?

• A. Increasing the semi-major axis using a tangential burn
• B. Circularizing an elliptical orbit
• C. Performing an inclination change manoeuvre
• D. Changing the eccentricity using a radial burn

Hint:

Examples of orbital manoeuvres: \[ \boxed{ \begin{aligned} \text{Tangential burn} &\rightarrow \text{Changes semi-major axis} \text{Radial burn} &\rightarrow \text{Changes eccentricity} \text{Normal burn} &\rightarrow \text{Changes inclination} \end{aligned} } \]

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: Recall the classification of orbital manoeuvres. Orbital manoeuvres are classified as \[ \boxed{ \begin{aligned} \text{In-plane manoeuvres} &\rightarrow \text{Change orbit size or shape}, \text{Out-of-plane manoeuvres} &\rightarrow \text{Change orbital plane}. \end{aligned} } \]

Step 2: Identify the out-of-plane manoeuvre. Changing the orbital inclination requires rotating the orbital plane. Therefore, \[ \boxed{ \text{Inclination change is an out-of-plane manoeuvre.} } \] Hence, \[ \boxed{\text{Performing an inclination change manoeuvre}} \] is the correct answer. Thus, \[ \boxed{(C)} \] is the correct answer.