Question

Every day our Earth receives 1.550x1022 J energy from the Sun. If we were able to use 0.75 percent of this energy to accelerate spaceships, then how many missions would be possible in one year?

Answer 1

Total no. of missions in a year = 3 (approx)

Given:

Total Energy received by the Earth from the sun per day =
`1.550* 10^{22 J`

Percent Energy used to accelerate spaceship = 0.75%

Solution:

Now, to calculate the number of launches possible in a year, we first calculate the number of days this energy would last and it is given by:

Number of days for the energy to last, n =

Number of days for the energy to last, n =
`(1.550* 10^(22))/(0.75* 10^(- 2)* 1.550* 10^(22))` = 133.34 days

Total no. of missions in a year =
`(No. of days in a year)/(n)`

Total no. of missions in a year =
`(365)/(133.34)` = 2.7

Total no. of missions in a year = 3 (approx)