3 ms·

At that point gravity will act slower though, so it might be enough to take up a small liquid fuel craft too. Rockets will have abandoned solid fuel boosters l

At that point gravity will act slower though, so it might be enough to take up a small liquid fuel craft too. Rockets will have abandoned solid fuel boosters long before then.

drtgh 3y ago
If you take a lift to a distance of 100 km and drop it, it will fall immediately reaching the ground in less than 10 minutes. Gravity remains strong. Satellites and space stations are always in free fall. The thing that keeps them in "space" is the velocity with which they were originally launched to orbit the Earth as centripetal force becomes the weight of the satellite, which slows down such falling process. Seeing it with cold eyes, they employ all the energy at a first for to lift the weight of that falling object. If a geostationary satellite has to stay over the same region of the planet, it has to be sent much much far away, until its orbital velocity become synchronized with the Earth's rotation. And even like that, keeps being in free fall due Earth's gravity. I mean, what we see in cartoons or sci-movies about to send a rocket absolutely vertical and cut engines, or a spaceship joining over a planet and conserve the same orbital position, could be done only with anti-gravitational engines. A small liquid fuel could not maintain them in place.
- concordDance 3y ago
  > The thing that keeps them in "space" is the acceleration with which they were originally launched to orbit the Earth, which slows down such falling process. It would be more clear to say that what keeps them in space is that they're moving sideways so fast. Velocity, not acceleration, is the right term here.
  - drtgh 3y ago
    I updated velocity. I also added centripetal force become the weight of the satellite for to try to explain it better.
- neaden 3y ago
  Yeah, the thing people miss about the space station isn't that it's high up, it is that it is fast. It orbits the earth roughly every 90 minutes! It is literally faster then a speeding bullet.

At that point gravity will act slower though, so it might be enough to take up a small liquid fuel craft too. Rockets will have abandoned solid fuel boosters long before then.

drtgh 3y ago

If you take a lift to a distance of 100 km and drop it, it will fall immediately reaching the ground in less than 10 minutes. Gravity remains strong. Satellites and space stations are always in free fall. The thing that keeps them in "space" is the velocity with which they were originally launched to orbit the Earth as centripetal force becomes the weight of the satellite, which slows down such falling process. Seeing it with cold eyes, they employ all the energy at a first for to lift the weight of that falling object. If a geostationary satellite has to stay over the same region of the planet, it has to be sent much much far away, until its orbital velocity become synchronized with the Earth's rotation. And even like that, keeps being in free fall due Earth's gravity. I mean, what we see in cartoons or sci-movies about to send a rocket absolutely vertical and cut engines, or a spaceship joining over a planet and conserve the same orbital position, could be done only with anti-gravitational engines. A small liquid fuel could not maintain them in place.

concordDance 3y ago
> The thing that keeps them in "space" is the acceleration with which they were originally launched to orbit the Earth, which slows down such falling process. It would be more clear to say that what keeps them in space is that they're moving sideways so fast. Velocity, not acceleration, is the right term here.
- drtgh 3y ago
  I updated velocity. I also added centripetal force become the weight of the satellite for to try to explain it better.
neaden 3y ago
Yeah, the thing people miss about the space station isn't that it's high up, it is that it is fast. It orbits the earth roughly every 90 minutes! It is literally faster then a speeding bullet.