1. My research group at OSU is involved in measuring radiation in space. We’ve b

ID: 1873210 • Letter: 1

Question

1. My research group at OSU is involved in measuring radiation in space. We’ve been given the

opportunity to fly a radiation detector on a polar orbiting satellite (i.e. the satellite’s orbit will

pass over both North and South poles and is perpendicular to the equator) in order to measure

radiation above the Arctic and Antarctic. The satellite will orbit at an altitude of 800 km where

the acceleration due to gravity is about 79% of its average value at the Earth’s surface. How

many times a day will we be able to measure the radiation levels above the Antarctic?

1. given

altitude, h = 800,000 m

radius of earth = Re = 6371,000 m

speed of satellite = v

now, acceelration due to gravity at location of the satellite = 0.79g

hence from force balnce

v^2/(Re + h)= 0.79g

hence

v = 7454.83 m/s

circumference of orbit, 2*pi*(Re + h) = 45056721.8377848 m

hence

number of rounds per day = v*24*3600/2*pi*(Re + h) = 14.295254 rounds per day

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