Question

When the Voyager I and Voyager II spacecraft were exploring the outer planets, NASA flight controllers had to plan the crafts' moves well in advance. How many seconds elapse between the time a command is sent from Earth and the time the command is received by Voyager at Neptune? Assume the distance from Earth to Neptune is 4.76E+12 m.

Answer 1

Answer:

$1.59*10^4 s$

Explanation:

The signals sent from the earth, travel at the speed of light, therefore the travel time of the signal between the earth and neptune, can be calculated with the following equation, which relates time, speed and distance:

$t=\frac{x}{v}\\t=\frac{4.76*10^{12} m}{3*10^8 m/s}=1.59*10^4 s$

The time elapsed is approximately 4.41 hours