The spacecraft's kinetic energy relative to the earth is 3.49 x 10¹¹ J.
How to calculate the kinetic energy of the spacecraft?
The spacecraft's kinetic energy relative to the earth is calculated by applying the following formula as shown below;
K.E = ¹/₂mv²
where;
- m is the mass of the spacecraft
- v is the velocity of the spacecraft
The given parameters include;
mass of the spacecraft, m = 629 kg
velocity of the spacecraft, v = 120,000 km/h = 33,333.3 m/s
The spacecraft's kinetic energy relative to the earth is calculated as;
K.E = ¹/₂ x 629 x (33,333.3)²
K.E = 3.49 x 10¹¹ J
The complete question is below:
Ten days after it was launched toward Mars in December 1998, the Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft (mass 629 kg) was 2.87×106km from the earth and traveling at 1.20×104km/h relative to the earth. At this time, what were the following. (a) the spacecraft's kinetic energy relative to the earth J