orbital velocity

American  

noun

1. the minimum velocity at which a body must move to maintain a given orbit.

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orbital velocity British  

noun

1. the velocity required by a spacecraft, satellite, etc, to enter and maintain a given orbit

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Example Sentences

Mississippi’s children are getting off the launchpad, but they’re failing to achieve orbital velocity.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 8, 2026

So Vikram’s task was to reduce its high orbital velocity to zero such that it would stay as close to its intended trajectory as possible, all the way until a safe touchdown.

From Scientific American • Aug. 23, 2023

That means that the impact significantly changed the moonlet's orbital velocity.

From Salon • Oct. 11, 2022

The orbital velocity of the smaller star relative to the larger is 62,000 km/h.

From Textbooks • Oct. 13, 2016

Occasionally, one member of a double-star system explodes, breaking the gravitational shackles that bound its companion, which then leaps into space at its former orbital velocity, a slingshot in the sky.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan