Question

Thanos has his space ship circular orbit around the Earth completes one orbit every 4 hours. The radius of the Earth is about 6400 km, and the space ship orbits 3250 km above the Earth’s surface. How far does the space ship travel in 1 hour?

Answer 1

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Answer 2

The radius of Earth = 6,400 km, and the spaceship is 3,250 km above the Earth.

So radius of Spaceship's orbit = 6,400 km + 3,250 km = 9,650 km.

The distance covered to complete one orbit would be circumference of the circle with radius 9,650 km.

So, circumference of circle = 2π·r = 2π·(9,650) = 19,300π km

It says it completes one orbit in 4 hours, then its speed =
`(19,300\pi )/(4) \;kmph =4,825\pi \;kmph \approx 15,158.18 \;kmph`

So, it travels approximately 15,158.18 kilometers in one hour.