- #1
tater08
- 29
- 0
Homework Statement
The Stardust spacecraft was designed to visit a comet and bring samples of its material back to the earth. The craft is 1.7 m across and has a mass of 385 kg. In January 2004, from a distance of 237 km, it took the photograph of the nucleus of comet Wild2, shown in the figure below. The distance across this nucleus is 5 km, and we can model it as an approximate sphere. Since astronomers think that comets have a composition similar to that of Pluto, we can assume a density the same as Pluto's, which is 2.1 g/cm^3. The samples taken will be returned to Earth on Jan. 15, 2006.
What gravitational force did the comet exert on the spacecraft
Homework Equations
F=G ((m1 * m2)/R^2) G= 6.674 x 10 ^-11
The Attempt at a Solution
Well the radius i determined to be 240.35 km. The mass of the satellite is 385 kg. I guess I'm having the problem of determing the mass of the comet. Please Help!