Swing-by maneuver

A spacecraft is passing Jupiter very close and is catapulted away from it by its gravity at a high speed (swing-by maneuver). Initially, the probe has a velocity of v = v e x \vec v = v \vec e_x and flies almost head-on towards the planet, which moves in the opposite direction with V = V e x \vec V = V \vec e_x . After the maneuver, the spacecraft has a velocity of v = v e x \vec v ' = v' \vec e_x .

What is the speed difference Δ v = v v \Delta v = |v'| - |v| in kilometers per second, to the nearest integer?

Hint: Set up momentum and energy conservation for the spacecraft and Jupiter.

Assumptions: Jupiter has mean distance a = 7.8 × 1 0 11 m / s a = 7.8 \times 10^{11} \, \text{m} / \text{s} from the sun and a period of circulation of T = 11.9 T = 11.9 years.


The answer is 26.

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1 solution

Markus Michelmann
Nov 26, 2017

The momentum conservation for the probe with mass m m and the planet with mass M M reads m v + M V = m v + M V V = V + γ ( v v ) \begin{aligned} m v + M V &= m v' + M V' \\ \Rightarrow \quad V' &= V + \gamma ( v - v') \end{aligned} with the mass ratio γ = m / M 1 \gamma = m/M \ll 1 . The energy conservation reads 1 2 m v 2 + 1 2 M V 2 = 1 2 m v 2 + 1 2 M V 2 γ v 2 + V 2 = γ v 2 + ( V + γ ( v v ) ) 2 = γ v 2 + V 2 + 2 γ ( v v ) V + γ 2 ( v v ) 2 γ v 2 + V 2 + 2 γ ( v v ) V v 2 = v 2 + 2 ( v v ) V v + v = 2 V \begin{aligned} & & \frac{1}{2} m v^2 + \frac{1}{2} M V^2 &= \frac{1}{2} m v'^2 + \frac{1}{2} M V'^2 \\ \Rightarrow & & \gamma v^2 + V^2 &= \gamma v'^2 + (V + \gamma ( v - v'))^2 \\ & & &= \gamma v'^2 + V^2 + 2 \gamma (v - v') V + \gamma^2 (v - v')^2 \\ & & &\approx \gamma v'^2 + V^2 + 2 \gamma (v - v') V \\ \Rightarrow & & v^2 &= v'^2 + 2 (v - v') V \\ \Rightarrow & & v + v' &= 2 V \end{aligned} (Here, we neglected the term proportional to γ 2 \gamma^2 .) The insertion of the numerical values provides the result V = 2 π a T = 2 π 7.8 1 0 8 11.9 365 24 60 60 km s 13 km s Δ v = ( v + v ) = 2 V 26 km s \begin{aligned} V &= -2 \pi \frac{a}{T} = -2 \pi \frac{7.8 \cdot 10^{8}}{11.9 \cdot 365 \cdot 24 \cdot 60 \cdot 60} \frac{\text{km}}{\text{s}} \approx -13 \frac{\text{km}}{\text{s}} \\ \Rightarrow \quad \Delta v &= -(v + v') = -2 V \approx 26 \frac{\text{km}}{\text{s}} \end{aligned}

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