Orbits: Firing satellite to Moon

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the dynamics of a satellite being fired towards the Moon, focusing on the effects of energy and angular momentum on its trajectory. Participants are exploring concepts related to orbital mechanics and the implications of ignoring gravitational influences.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster attempts to understand how changes in energy and angular momentum affect the satellite's trajectory, particularly questioning the implications of increasing angular momentum on graph shifts. They also express confusion about the expected behavior of the satellite when gravitational effects of the Moon are disregarded.

Discussion Status

The discussion appears to be ongoing, with participants seeking feedback on specific parts of the problem. There is a lack of explicit consensus, and several posts indicate a desire for further input on the original poster's interpretations and assumptions.

Contextual Notes

Participants note that the problem specifies to ignore the gravitational effects of the Moon, which raises questions about the nature of the satellite's trajectory and its maximum distance from the Earth.

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Homework Statement


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Homework Equations


The Attempt at a Solution


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Parts I'm unsure of:
Sketching of graphs in (a) and (b). I know increasing its energy will shift the entire graph upwards. But does it shift it rightwards if the angular momentum is increased?

Last part, they said to ignore the gravitational effects of the moon. But clearly the satellite does not go into an elliptical orbit, as without the moon it's just going to go to a maximum distance, then come back in a straight line. By this analogy, the satellite is just going to be at rest at rmax. Thus the relative velocity is going to be simply the velocity of the moon.

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opinions on the last 3 parts, anyone?
 
bumpp
 
bumppp
 
bumppy
 
anyone?
 

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