In 2014, the European Space Agency placed a satellite in orbit around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and then landed a probe on the surface. The actual orbit was elliptical, but we can approximate it as a 50 km diameter circular orbit with a period of 11 days.

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In 2014, the European Space Agency placed a satellite in orbit around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and then landed a probe on the surface. The actual orbit was elliptical, but we can approximate it as a 50 km diameter circular orbit with a period of 11 days.(a) What was the satellite&#8217;s orbital speed around the comet? (Both the comet and the satellite are orbiting the sun at a much higher speed.)
, (b) What is the mass of the comet?
, (c) The lander was pushed from the satellite, toward the comet, at a speed of 70 cm/s, and it then fell-taking about 7 hours -to the surface. What was its landing speed? The comet&#8217;s shape is irregular, but on average it has a diameter of 3.6 km. Assume the lander experienced constant acceleration form the time it left the satellite.
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Jason · Accepted Answer

$ v \approx 0.165 \text{m/s} $
$ M \approx 1.02 \times 10^{13} \text{kg} $
$ v_{\text{final}} \approx .735\, \text{m/s} $

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