Satellites: orbital speed and period
Grade 11 Science Worksheet
Circle the best answer, or write your answer on the line.
Earth's GM is 398,600 km³/s² and its radius is 6371 km. At the low end of the ISS's range, 370 km up, what is the orbital speed to the nearest hundredth, Ari?
Earth's GM is 398,600 km³/s² and its radius is 6371 km. At the high end of the ISS's range, 460 km up, what is the orbital speed to the nearest hundredth, Bo?
Earth's GM is 398,600 km³/s² and its radius is 6371 km. For a model satellite 2000 km up, what is the orbital speed to the nearest hundredth, Esme?
Thin air drags on the ISS and slowly lowers its orbit. What must its engines do now and then, Kira?
- Boost it back up
- Slow it down so it stays up
- Nothing, since it rises again by itself
Two model satellites orbit at 370 km and 460 km. Which takes less time per orbit, Luz?
- The one at 460 km, since higher orbits are faster
- The one at 370 km
- They take the same time
The Moon travels about 2,415,000 km per orbit in 27.32 days (NASA). What is its average speed, Noah?
- About 88,400 km/s, treating days as seconds
- About 1.02 km/s
- About 0.01 km/s
Why is the Moon's orbital speed, 1.022 km/s, so much lower than the ISS's, Pia?
- It is much farther from Earth's center
- It has no engines
- Earth's pull stops partway to the Moon
A 1 kg and a 100 kg model satellite orbit at the same height. How do their speeds compare, Ren?
- The 1 kg one is faster
- The 100 kg one is faster
- They are the same
Why doesn't the satellite's own mass appear in v = √(GM ÷ r), Tala?
- Mass doesn't matter in space
- Satellites have too little mass to count
- It cancels: the pull and the force needed both grow with it
In v = √(GM ÷ r) for a satellite around Earth, what is M, Zee?
- Earth's mass
- The satellite's mass
- The Moon's mass