For a satellite to be in a circular orbit 950 km above the surface of the earth, what orbital speed must it be given?

a. what is the period of the orbit (in hours)?

1.) 7382 m/s

The gravitational attraction between the satellite and the Earth provides the centripetal force that keeps the satellite in circular motion, so we can write

where

G is the gravitational constant

is the Earth's mass

m is the satellite's mass

is the Earth's radius

is the altitude of the satellite above the Earth's surface

v is the orbital speed

Solving the formula for v, we find

2) 1.73 hours

The period of the orbit is the time taken to complete one revolution around the Earth, therefore:

where the numerator is the circumference of the orbit and v the orbital speed, therefore we find

Converting into hours,

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