232k views
1 vote
20. At its closest approach, Mars is 56 million km from Earth. How long would a radio message from a space probe on Mars take to reach Earth when the planets are at this distance?​

1 Answer

6 votes

Answer:

The time it takes for a radio message to travel from a space probe on Mars to Earth when the planets are at a distance of 56 million km can be calculated using the speed of light which is about 299,792,458 meters per second.

To convert the distance from kilometers to meters, we multiply 56 million km by 1000 to get 56 x 10^6 km = 5.6 x 10^10 m.

The time it takes for a radio signal to travel from Mars to Earth is:

time = distance/speed

time = 5.6 x 10^10 m / 299,792,458 m/s

time = 187 seconds

Therefore, a radio message from a space probe on Mars would take about 187 seconds, or just over 3 minutes, to reach Earth when the planets are at a distance of 56 million km.

User Hayley
by
8.3k points

No related questions found