Question

3. The space shuttle aims for an orbit about 250 km above the surface of the earth. In orbit, the mass
of the space shuttle is about 95,000 kg.
Earth mass = 5.98x1024 kg Earth radius = 6.38 x 10²km.
a. Calculate the orbital speed of the space shuttle.

Answer 1

The orbital speed of the space shuttle is 2.12 x 10⁴ m/s.

Orbital speed of the space shuttle

The orbital speed of the space shuttle is calculated as follows;

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

where;

• G is gravitational constant
• M is mass of the Earth
• r is the distance from the center point of the planet

$V = \sqrt{\frac{6.67 \times 10^{-11} 5.98 \times 10^{24}}{(250 + 638) \times 10^3} }\\\\V = 2.12 \times 10^4 \ m/s$

Thus, the orbital speed of the space shuttle is 2.12 x 10⁴ m/s.

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