Asked by naydelyn

What is the orbital velocity of a 2000 kg satellite orbiting the earth at an altitude of 8.8 x 106 m from the center of the earth if the earth's mass is 5.97 x 1024 kg?

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Orbital speed v = sqrt(GM/r). The satellite's mass cancels.

Using G = 6.674×10^-11 m^3 kg^-1 s^-2,
M = 5.97×10^24 kg, r = 8.8×10^6 m:

v = sqrt((6.674×10^-11)(5.97×10^24)/(8.8×10^6))
≈ sqrt(4.53×10^7)
≈ 6.73×10^3 m/s

So v ≈ 6.73 km/s.