Question

The orbit of a certain a satellite has a semimajor axis of 1.7 x 107 m and an eccentricity of 0.25. What are the satellite's perigee and apogee (in km)?

Answer 1

The perigee and apogee of the satellite are 1.275 x 10^4 km and 2.125 x 10^4 km, respectively.

Step-by-step explanation:

The perigee and apogee of a satellite can be determined using the equations:

Perigee = Semimajor Axis - Eccentricity x Semimajor Axis

Apogee = Semimajor Axis + Eccentricity x Semimajor Axis

Given that the semimajor axis is 1.7 x 10^7 m and the eccentricity is 0.25, we can substitute these values into the equations to find:

Perigee = (1.7 x 10^7 m) - (0.25 x 1.7 x 10^7 m) = 1.275 x 10^7 m

Apogee = (1.7 x 10^7 m) + (0.25 x 1.7 x 10^7 m) = 2.125 x 10^7 m

Converting these values to km:

Perigee = 1.275 x 10^4 km

Apogee = 2.125 x 10^4 km