Etymology

McDowell line

Today it means: The altitude of periapsis at which atmospheric drag will prevent an object from successfully orbiting. Full definition →

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The story

Proposed by astrophysicist Jonathan C. McDowell in 2018; when analyzing orbiting satellites to determine the perigee altitude at which one can successfully orbit twice or more on a highly elliptical orbit.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.