Question

4) The path of a satellite orbiting the earth causes it to pass directly over two

tracking stations A and B, which are 60 km apart. When the satellite is on one side of
the two stations, the angles of elevation at A and B are measured to be 86.4 ° and
85 °, respectively.
Find how far the satellite is from station A and how high the satellite is above the
ground. Round your answers to 2 decimal places.

Answer 1

Answers:

• Satellite is approximately 2446.43 km from station A.
• Satellite is approximately 2441.61 km above the ground.

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Step-by-step explanation:

I'm assuming tracking stations A and B are at the same elevation and are on flat ground. In reality, this is likely not the case; however, for the sake of simplicity, we'll assume this is the case.

The diagram is shown below. Points A and B describe the two stations, while point C is the satellite's location. Point D is on the ground directly below the satellite. We have these lengths

• AB = 60 km
• AD = x
• CD = h

Focusing on triangle ACD, we can apply the tangent rule to isolate h.

tan(angle) = opposite/adjacent

tan(A) = CD/AD

tan(86.4) = h/x

x*tan(86.4) = h

h = x*tan(86.4)

We'll use this later in the substitution below.

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Now move onto triangle BCD. For the reference angle B = 85, we can use the tangent rule to say

tan(angle) = opposite/adjacent

tan(B) = CD/DB

tan(B) = CD/(DA+AB)

tan(85) = h/(x+60)

tan(85)*(x+60) = h

tan(85)*(x+60) = x*tan(86.4) ............. apply substitution; isolate x

x*tan(85)+60*tan(85) = x*tan(86.4)

60*tan(85) = x*tan(86.4)-x*tan(85)

60*tan(85) = x*(tan(86.4)-tan(85))

x*(tan(86.4)-tan(85)) = 60*tan(85)

x = 60*tan(85)/(tan(86.4)-tan(85))

x = 153.612786190499

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We'll use this approximate x value to find h

h = x*tan(86.4)

h = 153.612786190499*tan(86.4)

h = 2441.60531869599

h = 2441.61 km is how high the satellite is above the ground.

Return to triangle ACD. We'll use the cosine rule to determine the length of the hypotenuse AC

cos(angle) = adjacent/hypotenuse

cos(A) = AD/AC

cos(86.4) = x/AC

cos(86.4) = 153.612786190499/AC

AC*cos(86.4) = 153.612786190499

AC = 153.612786190499/cos(86.4)

AC = 2446.43279498247

AC = 2446.43 km is the distance from the satellite to station A.