- #1
zanick
- 383
- 23
we all know escape velocity is a velocity in which a body can escape orbit around the Earth and fly off into space. this needs to happen in space our just out of our atmosphere, due to drag that could bring an object back into orbit and cause it's velocity to degrade to a point where it would fall back to earth. So, what if a rocket is shot straight up, instead of horizontally at escape velocity (near 22,000mph) and as it enters space, the rockets are cut off and it flies off into space.. … will the pull of the Earth's gravity which would go down with distance, be enough to slow it down and pull it back to the earth? Or would it get far enough away to where gravity of other large bodies would have more influence . I just read that the pull of gravity to the sun, acting on the moon, is GREATER than what the Earth acts on the moon... so maybe if you sent off this rocket , you would want it to be done when the sun is behind the earth... This also means, the LaGrange point, would change with the positions in relation to the sun, so I guess the forces would change too. in a thought experiment of just the Earth and no external forces... a rocket coasting at 22,000miles/hour pointed away from the earth, would eventually slow and return back wouldn't it??