- #1
quiksilver2871
- 8
- 1
Homework Statement
2. The space shuttle is orbiting the Earth at a distance of about 200 km from its surface.
At that distance, the gravitational acceleration is almost the same as that on the
surface. (a) How long does it take for the shuttle to complete one orbit around the
Earth? Assume that the orbit is circular. (b) The density of air at 200 km is about
5 × 10−10kgr m−3. How many orbits will it take for aerodynamic drag to reduce the
velocity of the shuttle by 10%? The coefficient of aerodynamic drag for the shuttle is
' 0.5, the surface area projected along the direction of motion is ' 400 m2, and the
weight of the shuttle midway through a mission is about one million tons.
Homework Equations
R=.5DpAv^2
The Attempt at a Solution
Ok i got the portion of (a). i got an answer of 88.4413minutes. that's also with a velocity of 7.7887km/s. I just can't get b. thanks for any help.