aerocapture

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noun

A form of aerobraking in which a spacecraft uses atmospheric drag to decelerate from a hyperbolic trajectory into a closed orbit, eliminating the need for a large orbital-insertion burn and requiring only small correction burns to raise the spacecraft's periapsis out of the atmosphere.

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Meanings

nounaerocapture (countable and uncountable, plural aerocaptures)

plural aerocaptures

  1. countableuncountableaerospaceA form of aerobraking in which a spacecraft uses atmospheric drag to decelerate from a hyperbolic trajectory into a closed orbit, eliminating the need for a large orbital-insertion burn and requiring only small correction burns to raise the spacecraft's periapsis out of the atmosphere.
verbaerocapture (third-person singular simple present aerocaptures, present participle aerocapturing, simple past and past participle aerocaptured)

present singular third person aerocaptures · participle present aerocapturing · participle past aerocaptured · past aerocaptured

  1. intransitiveTo perform (an) aerocapture.

Origin

From aero- + capture.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

aerocapture. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aerocapture

MLA

“aerocapture.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aerocapture. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “aerocapture,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aerocapture.

Source: aerocapture on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.