Sunday, September 16, 2007

Launching a satellite

Launching a satellite is very much like serving in a game of tennis . You got to bring the satellite to the right location (orbit radius) and it must given the required velocity to stay in that orbit. Therefore the energy needed to launch a satellite would require a increase in potential energy( from the surface of the earth) and kinetic energy . Find the sum of increase in potential energy and kinetic energy of satellite. It is not the same as total energy in orbit radius . The total energy in orbit radius is the potential energy and kinetic energy in that orbit radius.