N-body problem of first-order differential equations, with initial conditions as initial position coordinates and initial momentum values. Symmetries in the -body problem yield global integrals of motion that simplify the problem. Translational symmetry of the problem results in the center of mass moving with constant velocity, so that , where is the linear velocity and is the initial position. The constants of motion and represent six integrals of the motion. Rotational symmetry results in the total angular momentum being constant where × is the cross product. The three components of the total angular momentum yield three more constants of the motion. The
Propellant mass fraction important role in the rocket equation: Where formula_10 is the ratio of final mass to initial mass (i.e., one minus the mass fraction), formula_11 is the change in the vehicle's velocity as a result of the fuel burn and formula_12 is the effective exhaust velocity (see below). The term effective exhaust velocity is defined as: where "I" is the fuel's specific impulse in seconds and "g" is the "standard acceleration of gravity" (note that this is not the local acceleration of gravity). To make a powered landing from orbit on a celestial body without an atmosphere requires the same mass