You are working on a project with NASA to launch a rocket to Mars, with the rock

Question

You are working on a project with NASA to launch a rocket to Mars, with the rocket blasting off from earth when earth and Mars are just aligned along a straight line from the sun. As a first step in doing the calculation, assume circular orbits for both planets. If Mars is now 64.7 degrees ahead of the earth in its orbit 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 the planets orbit the sun in the same direction, and the year on Mars is 1.88 earth years.

Answer is 140 days.

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
64.7*/180(e-m)

=64.7*1.88/180(2*0.88)=0.3839years=140.142=140days

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