Trajectory

Origin

New Latin trajectoria, from feminine of trajectorius of passing, from Latin traicere to cause to cross, cross, from trans-, tra- trans- + jacere to throw

• 1696

Definitions

• 1: the curve that a body (as a planet or comet in its orbit or a rocket) describes in space
• 2: a path, progression, or line of development resembling a physical trajectory <an upward career trajectory>

Description

A trajectory is the path that a moving object follows through space as a function of time. The object might be a projectile or a satellite, for example. It thus includes the meaning of orbit—the path of a planet, an asteroid or a comet as it travels around a central mass. A trajectory can be described mathematically either by the geometry of the path, or as the position of the object over time.

In control theory a trajectory is a time-ordered set of states of a dynamical system (see e.g. Poincaré map). [1]