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Glite Dictionary
🪐 A close approach 👋 A brief visit ✈️ A passing show
flyby

flyby

3 6.0
A close pass by a spacecraft near a planet to collect data
  • noun
  • /ˈflaɪˌbaɪ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sobrevuelo
  • Ambitious flyby missions were being planned by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and Japan.
  • spacecraft flybys
  • flyby missions

It's always changing, and therefore you've got much more chance of capturing anything that happens to be on a flyby because of that change in gravity.

Examples

  • During its planned four-year tour of the Saturn system, Cassini will execute 45 close flybys of Titan as it orbits Saturn.

    Academic text (2004)

  • The dates of the Venus flybys were June 11, 1985, and June 15, 1985, for Vega 1 and Vega 2.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Now, we're going too fast at this point to fall into orbit... but we can do a flyby.

    The Martian (2015)

  • The first planetary mission, a flyby of Venus, dates to 1962.

    Academic text (2004)

  • We will actually image a large portion of that un-imaged hemisphere with MESSENGER's first flyby in January 2008.

    Academic text (2007)

  • The Voyager flybys were a great leap forward in human knowledge of Titan.

    Academic text (2004)

  • The radar image of Titan's surface made during Cassini's flyby in late October reveals a complex and enigmatic geology in the northern hemisphere.

    Academic text (2004)

  • Several Saturn flybys preceded the one by Cassini: Pioneer 11 in 1979, Voyager 1 in 1980, and Voyager 2 in 1981.

    Academic text (2004)

  • The Cassini spacecraft, in an interesting hybrid of flyby and orbital observation, recently entered orbit around the planet Saturn, where it can also conduct numerous close flybys of Saturn's moon Titan.

    Academic text (2004)

  • The spacecraft's flyby allowed scientists to collect valuable data about the planet's atmosphere.

Synonyms

approach
vsflyby
90 2.5

A movement that brings something closer to a target

is a specific close spacecraft arrival made for observation and data gathering
pass
vsflyby
  • Jargon
6 7.8

A flight over an area to observe or attack

is a closer spacecraft approach mainly for observing or collecting data

How Close

collision
148 3.8
grazing
1 3.7
flyby
  • Specialized
3 6.0

Surface Forms

flyby singular
flybys plural

Morphology

flyby = fly (transparent) = by + fly

Technical use (spacecraft approach) but the meaning 'to fly past/approach' follows directly from 'fly' + 'by', so the relation is transparent. [Postprocessing: moved 'by' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

Flyby comes from the parts fly and by, like a craft 'flying past' a planet to take pictures or get data; think of a fast visit in space where the ship does not stop. That's why a flyby means a close approach by a spacecraft to observe or collect information.