Orbital Speed and Period of a Satellite

Kepler's third law relates the period and the radius of objects in orbit around a star or planet. In conjunction with Newton's law of universal gravitation, giving the attractive force between two masses, we can find the speed and period of an artificial satellite in orbit around the Earth. Consideration is limited to circular orbits.

Details

The speed of a satellite is given by

v=

G

m

E

r

and the period is

T=2π

3

r

G

m

E

,

where

r

is the distance from the center of the Earth (Earth's radius + altitude

h

),

G

is the gravitational constant, and

m

E

is the mass of the Earth.

External Links

Speed (ScienceWorld)

Period (ScienceWorld)

Kepler's Third Law (ScienceWorld)

Gravitational Constant (ScienceWorld)

Permanent Citation

Enrique Zeleny

"Orbital Speed and Period of a Satellite"
http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/OrbitalSpeedAndPeriodOfASatellite/
Wolfram Demonstrations Project
Published: March 7, 2011