Question

A 4000 kgkg spacecraft is in a circular orbit 2500 kmkm above the surface of Mars.

Part A How much work must the spacecraft engines perform to move the spacecraft to a circular orbit that is 4500 kmkm above the surface? Express your answer with the appropriate units.

Answer 1

The energy of a spacecraft in a given circular orbit is given by

Where,

M is the mass of Mars,

m is the mass of the spacecraft and

r is the radius of the circular orbit.

Now the change in the energy between two given orbits is

Putting the values in SI units

So, the work is done by the engines is 3.03 x 10^10 J.