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danuwell
danuwell
29.06.2019 • 
Physics

Space chase: you have been sent in a small spacecraft to rendezvous with a space station in a circular orbit of radius ro from the earth's center. due to a mishandling of units by a technician, you find yourself in the same orbit as the station but exactly halfway around the circle from it! you do not apply forward thrust in an attempt to "chase" the station; that would be fatal folly. instead, you apply brief braking thrust against the direction of your motion, to put you into an elliptical orbit, the highest point of which is your present position, but the period of which is half that of your present orbit. thus you will return to your present position when the space station has come halfway around its circle to meet you is the minimum radius from the earth's center-the low point-of your new elliptical orbit greater than the radius of the earth, or have you botched your last physics problem? do not guess!

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