Question

A descent vehicle landing on the moon has a vertical velocity toward the surface of the moon of 29.6 m/s. At the same time, it has a horizontal velocity of 54.8 m/s. At what speed does the vehicle move along its descent path?

Answer 1

If the vertical component is 29.6 m/s down, and the horizontal component
is 54.8 m/s parallel to the surface, then the magnitude of the slanty vector is

√(29.6² + 54.8²) = √(876.16 + 3003.04) = √3879.2 = 62.28 m/s .

That's 139 mph ! Wow !