Editing Orbital state vectors (section)

{{Short description|Cartesian vectors of position and velocity of an orbiting body in space}}
[[Image:Orbital state vectors.png|thumbnail|300px|Orbital position vector, orbital velocity vector, other [[orbital element]]s]]

In [[astrodynamics]] and [[celestial dynamics]], the '''orbital state vectors''' (sometimes '''state vectors''') of an [[orbit]] are
[[cartesian coordinate system|Cartesian]] vectors of [[position (vector)|position]] (<math>\mathbf{r}</math>) and [[velocity]] (<math>\mathbf{v}</math>) that together with their time ([[epoch (astronomy)|epoch]]) (<math>t</math>) uniquely determine the trajectory of the orbiting body in space.<ref name=om>{{cite book | url=http://www.nssc.ac.cn/wxzygx/weixin/201607/P020160718380095698873.pdf | title = Orbital Mechanics for Engineering Students | author=Howard Curtis | publisher=[[Elsevier]] | location=Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Daytona Beach, Florida | isbn = 0-7506-6169-0 | date=2005-01-10 | access-date=2023-01-08}}</ref>{{rp|p=154}}

Orbital state vectors come in many forms including the traditional Position-Velocity vectors, [[Two-line element set]] (TLE), and Vector Covariance Matrix (VCM).