Find the apogee from v at perigee, perigee, g, and the radius of Earth

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves a satellite orbiting the Earth, where the perigee distance and tangential speed at perigee are provided. The task is to find the apogee and orbital period without using the mass of the Earth, which raises concerns about the complexity of the calculations.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss the implications of not using the mass of the Earth and explore the relationship between gravitational acceleration, radius, and the gravitational parameter. There is an attempt to derive relationships using angular momentum conservation.

Discussion Status

Some participants have offered insights into deriving the gravitational parameter from the given constants, which may provide a pathway to further calculations. Multiple interpretations of the problem's constraints are being explored, but no consensus has been reached on a complete method.

Contextual Notes

The problem explicitly states not to use the mass of the Earth, which complicates the use of standard orbital equations. Participants are navigating this constraint while attempting to find alternative approaches.

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Homework Statement


Satellite orbits the Earth and its perigee r_min and tangential speed at perigee v_pe are given. The problem says do not use mass of Earth in the calculation, and use the only the constants g = 9.8 and radius of Earth 6380 km. I'm supposed to find the apogee and orbital period, but not using mass of Earth makes things seem so complicated. And the formula for period itself has mass of Earth in it.

Homework Equations


where ecc is eccentricity
perigee = r_min + radius of Earth
r_max = (1+ecc)*r_min/(1-ecc)

The Attempt at a Solution


Since argular momentum is conserved,
m v_pe r_min = m v_ap r_max
=> r_max = v_pe r_min / v_ap
I tried to find v_ap, but that the formula has mass of Earth in it, so I can't use that.
Thank you
 
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But given g and the radius of the Earth you can infer the gravitational parameter ##\mu = GM_e##, right?
 
gneill said:
But given g and the radius of the Earth you can infer the gravitational parameter ##\mu = GM_e##, right?
So what you meant is
g = GM/r_earth^2 = μ/r_earth^2
=> g*r_earth^2 = μ ? That makes sense. Thank you.
 
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Natchanon said:
So what you meant is
g = GM/r_earth^2 = μ/r_earth^2
=> g*r_earth^2 = μ ? That makes sense. Thank you.
Yup. And so you can proceed with the rest of the usual basic orbital motion equation lexicon.
 
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