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How are slingshot mechanisms used to accelerate interplanetary spacecraft?
Good question. Imagine a spacecraft is approaching a planet. The planet is moving around the sun. The spacecraft path is adjusted to approach the trailing limb of the planet -- the rear edge of the planet when you look at its orbit around the sun, not its dark side. The planet pulls on the spacecraft as it goes by (and actually the spacecraft pulls on the planet, too). If the spacecraft were close enough to the planet, and traveling slowly enough, it would be captured by the planet. But it is possible to put the space craft in a path so that will not be captured--it can be pulled by the planet so that the spacecraft gains velocity. The planet loses velocity, but since planets are huge and spacecraft small, the planet's velocity is barely affected. It is hard to visualize this, but imagine a ping pong ball being struck by a soccerball in mid-air (this would make a good science class demonstration)--the ping pong ball will pick up tremendous speed by being struck by a heavier ball. The heavy ball will hardly notice it. You can do this by dropping the soccer ball with the ping pong ball on top of it. Slingshotting a spacecraft (also called gravity assist) works in a similar way except the spacecraft would be pulled by the planet's gravity instead of being pushed (as with the two-ball demonstration).
Does distance traveled by an orbiting spacecraft is circumference or area?
It is circumference, for a circular orbit
List 3 differences between an aircraft and spacecraft?
I don't know ,I asked u and ur telling me to answer
How long does it take to travel 1 million miles in space?
The time it takes to travel 1 million miles in space depends on the speed of the spacecraft. For example, if a spacecraft travels at 25,000 miles per hour, it would take approximately 40 hours to cover that distance. However, if traveling at the speed of light (about 186,282 miles per second), it would take roughly 5.3 seconds. The actual duration varies significantly based on the technology and mission profile of the spacecraft.
How many miles do the voyager 1 or 2 spacecraft travel in one second?
300 000km/sec approx
