What is non-ballistic motion?

Answer 1

According to Newtonian physics, all matter moves along deterministic paths based upon its mass and velocity. This concept absolutely applies at the macroscopic level, from grains of sand to galactic superclusters; but has been shown to break down at the subatomic and quantum levels. (And in fact, the reconciliation of this difference is one of the primary scientific challenges in all of physics-the so-called "Unified Field Theory" that would bring together both Einsteinian relativity and Newtonian physics, with quantum theory).

These deterministic paths follow ballistic principles. For example, one can determine with great accuracy where an arrow would fall to Earth, were it shot into the air-the more precisely designed and manufactured the arrow, the more accurate the measurement of the Earth's curvature and local wind speeds, and accounting for atmospheric drag, gravity, and inertia, could result in a predictable landing area of mere feet, or even inches. The concept extends to bombs and missiles, spacecraft launched from the Earth to rendezvous with targets months or years later, and even the predictive capabilities of stellar motion and drift over millenia.

EVERYTHING moves ballistically, along parabolic curves, as the kinetic energy of an object is dissipated during the course of its motion along a path.

So for something to exhibit "non-ballistic motion", it would inherently need to defy the laws of physics as we currently understand them. For example, a bullet that instantlystopped along its flight path, and began flying 90 degrees left or right, would be exhibiting non-ballistic motion. The act of stopping instantly, without being acted upon by some external force; then accelerating back to full speed in some other direction, without being under the influence of the explosive force it received when first fired from the gun; would require it to behave non-ballistically.

Answer 2

Non-accelerated motion is when a body is in motion but no force is acting on it to either speed it up or slow it down - hence the velocity is constant.