You are working on a project with NASA to launch a rocket toMars, with the rocke

Question

You are working on a project with NASA to launch a rocket toMars, with the rocket blasting off from earth when earth and Marsare just aligned along a straight line from the sun. As a firststep in doing the calculation, assume circular orbits for bothplanets. If Mars is now 55.9 degrees ahead of the earth in itsorbit around the sun, when should you launch the rocket?

Give your answer in days to the nearest whole number (i.e. 45.6= 46)

Note: For this problem you need to know the fact that all theplanets orbit the sun in the same direction, and the year on Marsis 1.63 earth years.

Explanation / Answer

let angular speed of mars be m and that of earth is e so the time taken for both to align in a straight line from nowis 55.9*/180(e-m)=55.9*1.63/180(2*0.63)=0.40years=146.6=147days

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