Mission CG8 Satellite Motion
Hold down the T key for 3 seconds to activate the audio accessibility mode, at which point you can click the K key to pause and resume audio. Useful for the Check Your Understanding and See Answers.
A satellite is orbiting the Earth. If the mass of the satellite were increased by a factor of 2, then the orbital speed of the satellite would ____ by a factor of ____.
where Mplanet is the mass of the planet and R is the radius of the orbit.
Many students have a preconception that the orbital speed of a satellite is dependent in some way upon the mass of the satellite. The most usual idea is that a more massive satellite would need a greater orbital speed. But don't be fooled! The orbital speed of a satellite is independent of the mass of the satellite and solely dependent upon the radius of orbit and the mass of the planet being orbited.
