Question

If a 2500 kg rocket is launched from the Earth's surface at a speed of 5 km/s, how high can it reach before it returns back down?(Mass of Earth is 5.98 x 10^24kg, radius is 6.38 x 10^6m)? Find the gravitational accelerations at this highest point. This would be the initial downward acceleration of the rocket.

Answer 1

Using principle of conservation of energy, at highest point the rocket will only have potential energy left.

At the throwing point, it had kinetic plus gravitational potential energy. Thus,

At this height, gravitational acceleration is