NASA Preliminary Calculations

Abstract or Introduction

A satellite can be thought as an object that orbits around a large body mass. Human-made satellites are launched into space with a purpose of communication, scientific research, weather forecasting, intelligence purpose among other broad applications. The motion of a satellite around a massive body is a projectile. Upon reaching the space, the only gravitational force acts upon the satellite. However, when launched at a sufficient speed, any satellite will orbit any large body. When launching satellites to orbit around the Mars, scientists have to determine the exact speed to launch the satellite so that it can remain on the orbit (Yvelyne 86). From the laws governing a projectile launched body, a satellite moves in a direction that is tangent to the Mars. As a result, the force of gravity of the Mars acts to pull it down. If the commence speed is too small, the launched body would fall to the Mars as the Mars’s gravitational forces would pull it down. When started with sufficient speed, the body would take a circular path and would fall to surface or Mars (Léonie, Léonie and Grady 13). When the launch speeds are made to be significantly large, the projected body moves at an elliptical path. At every point along the trajectory path, the satellite falls towards the surface of the Mars. However, it does not reach the surface of the Mars. For the case of this essay, the primary objective is to develop preliminary calculations. The scheming will show how high the satellite must be placed above the surface of the planet Mars and the speed that it must maintain while on the orbit.