how do they inhabitats survive such high consatant speed&how do they manage to duck with visiting vehihcles
2007-06-29 01:11:24 · 8 answers · asked by G.xi 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The international space station (ISS) moves at the speed needed to keep it in the proper orbit. If it moved slower, it would have to be in a higher orbit. If it moved faster, it would have to be in a lower orbit.
The people in the ISS survive this speed because it is easy to survive any constant speed -- just do nothing. It is acceleration, changes in speed, that are hard to take.
They don't have to "duck" with visiting vehicles. Do you mean "dock"? The space shuttle uses its rockets to move into the same orbit as the ISS, then uses its gas thrusters to slowly move toward the ISS until they touch.
2007-06-29 01:19:09 · answer #1 · answered by morningfoxnorth 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the space station moved less than 17,500mph it would fall out of the sky. That is the speed needed to keep it in orbit. The inhabitants survive it because they are all going the same speed. It is acceleration that causes stress on the body. Docking with other vehicles is simple enough because those vehicles are also going at about 17,500mph. Think of being in a car going the same speed as the car in front. You keep a fixed distance between that car and your own. If you accelerate to slightly above the speed of the car in front you slowly approach it. The significant thing is not the speed you are going but the speed you are going in relation to the other vehicle.
2007-06-29 01:48:16 · answer #2 · answered by Jason T 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That the speed they need to stay in orbit for that altitude. If they were going slower than that they would come back to earth, faster they would leave the earth orbit.
It's the same thing for the planets vs the sun. Why is the earth taking 365 days to make it around the sun ?
When something is in "orbit" in reality what it's actually happening is that the object is constantly falling back toward it. Yes the space station if free falling back to earth all the time (that explain the zero gravity) but the space station is going around the earth so rapidly that it always miss the earth.
Another good example is to have a string with a ring attached to your finger. If you turn the string too slowly, the ring will drop, if you turn it too fast the ring will go away, if you turn it just the right speed it will remains in a static position.
It's the same thing for anything in orbit, minus the rope lol.
Want the earth to crash with the sun ? Just slow it down !
2007-06-29 03:17:34 · answer #3 · answered by Kaynos 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It moves at that speed because for that orbit it is the exact speed needed to keep the space station from falling back to earth or from being shot out into space. If it was orbiting further from earth it would move slower and is it was orbiting closer it would have to be moving faster to maintain a stable orbit. Also I think astronauts can go that fast in space without any danger to them because there is very little gravity (practically no gravity) in orbit and therefore no G force to squish them.
PS. There is a formula you can use to calculate the distance and speed a satellite needs to be in order to be in stable orbit.
G(mass of earth)/radius=(velocity)^2/radius
Gis the gravitational constant=6.67x10^-11
2007-06-29 01:17:03 · answer #4 · answered by alexk 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The reason the INT space station is moving at 17.500 MPH is because it takes that much speed to stay in orbit, if you were to slow the space station down by 500 MPH the space station would start slowly falling back to Earth.
If the space station was going faster than 17.500 miles MPH the station would start moving further away from the Earth with each orbit.
When the space shuttle comes back from the space station they fire their rocket engines to start falling back to Earth.
2007-06-29 05:41:20 · answer #5 · answered by John R 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
This is the speed required to compensate for gravity's pull in order for the space station to maintain a constant altitude above the Earth's surface. This speed is calculated for a precise altitude.
2007-07-02 05:38:02 · answer #6 · answered by johnandeileen2000 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the reason that it moves that speed all the time is beacase there is no friction in space. so if u hit a gofl ball it would travel at the same speed until it hit something else. the space station is also affected by the eather's gravitational pull. inisde its no diffrent to them than being on earth. the planet is really moving thousands of miles/mph all the time, but it dosent feel like it dose it? hope that helps it a little.
2007-06-29 01:17:16 · answer #7 · answered by Lpag 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes. It is not to FALL down on the ground !!! Check about Galileo and Newton.
The inhabitants do not feel nothing at all, actually they are falling constantly... around the earth.
2007-06-29 01:17:59 · answer #8 · answered by bloo435 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋