Navigating the Solar System
Like Duolingo, but for Navigating the Solar System. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
A short one: 12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes end to end, roughly 5 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The Mechanics of the Void and Surviving the Environment. It assumes you already know the basics.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Navigating the Solar System
- Gravity continuously pulls orbiting objects toward the planet's center
- Lateral velocity allows a craft to travel past the horizon as it falls
- Orbiting is a state of perpetual freefall rather than a lack of gravity
- Altitude provides potential energy but does not prevent a craft from falling
- Specific orbital speeds are required to counteract gravity at different heights
- Kinetic energy from velocity is what maintains the 'miss' in the falling process
- The fundamental mechanics of orbiting as a balance of falling and lateral speed
- The dominance of velocity over altitude for orbital stability
- The upper atmosphere contains thin gas particles that collide with spacecraft
- Atmospheric drag converts orbital kinetic energy into heat and slows the craft
- Lower speeds result in a lower altitude, leading to a spiral toward reentry
- The Oberth effect makes engine burns more efficient at higher speeds near perigee
- The cause of orbital decay in low-altitude environments
- LEO requires a velocity of approximately 7.8 kilometers per second
- Objects in LEO circle the Earth roughly every 90 to 120 minutes
- The efficiency of orbital maneuvers at specific points in an ellipse
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Navigating the Solar System the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
What allows a spacecraft to avoid crashing into the planet while it is falling?
Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.
Where Navigating the Solar System takes you
Move beyond basic planet names and discover the invisible physics that dictate how we travel, survive, and thrive in the vacuum of space.
- 1
The Mechanics of the Void
- The Art of Falling
- Gravity Wells and Slingshots
- 2
Surviving the Environment
- The Invisible Weather
- The Human Cost of Zero-G
2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
Navigating the Solar System is taught in the The Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
More Science on Tomo
Navigating the Solar System
Move beyond basic planet names to understand the orbital mechanics, solar weather, and gravitational dances that define our cosmic neighborhood.
The Universe as It Really Is
Unlearn the myths of the cosmos. This course dismantles common space misconceptions to reveal the mind-bending reality of how gravity, light, and the vacuum actually work.
The Universe Above Us
Journey from your backyard to the edge of time. Discover how stars are born, why planets stay in orbit, and what lies within the deepest mysteries of the cosmos.
Astronomy and the Path to Astrophysics
Go beyond stargazing to understand the physics of the cosmos and the professional tools used to decode the universe. This course bridges the gap between an amateur hobbyist and a serious student of the stars.
Physics from First Principles
Master the fundamental laws that govern the universe by looking at the world through the lens of forces, energy, and scaling. Learn to predict how things move, break, and flow without getting lost in the equations.
Gravity, Time, and the Void
Move beyond basic orbits to explore how gravity warps the very fabric of reality, from the life-cycles of planets to the time-bending heart of a black hole.
Start Navigating the Solar System today.
Download Tomo, search Navigating the Solar System, and play your first lesson in under a minute.