What is the speed of the command module relative to Earth just after the separation?
A space vehicle is traveling at 4000 km/h relative to the Earth when the exhausted rocket motor is disengaged and sent backward with a speed of 78 km/h relative to the command module. The mass of the motor is four times the mass of the module. What is the speed of the command module relative to Earth just after the separation?
Tagged with: command module • earth • google • rocket motor • script type • space vehicle • text javascript
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
Let mc = mass of command module, me = mass of engine, vc = velocity of the command module.
4000*(mc+me) = vc*mc+(vc-78 km/hr)*me
4000*(mc+4*mc) = vc*mc+(vc-78 km/hr)*4*mc
Solve for vc
vc = 4062 km/h