Question

Scientists want to place a 3900 kg satellite in orbit around mars. they plan to have the satellite orbit a distance equal to 2.2 times the radius of mars above the surface of the planet. here is some information that will help solve this problem: mmars = 6.4191 x 1023 kg rmars = 3.397 x 106 m g = 6.67428 x 10-11 n-m2/kg2 2) what speed should the satellite have to be in a perfectly circular orbit?

Answer 1

orbital speed of the satellite is given as

$v = \sqrt{\frac{GM}{r}}$

here given that

M = mass of mars

r = distance from the center

G = gravitational constant

now plug in all values above

$v = \sqrt{\frac{6.67*10^{-11}* 6.4191* 10^{23}}{(2.2 + 1)3.397 * 10^6}$

$v = 1.984 * 10^3 m/s$

so the orbital speed is given as above