During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a

Question

During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. If Mark Watney uses infrared waves ( approximately 10-4 meters) to try and contact NASA, how long, in minutes, will it take for his message to reach Earth from Mars?

Explanation / Answer

Solution :-

The farthest distance from the mars to earth is 401 million Km

converting kilometer to meter

401 million Km * 1000000000 m / 1 million Km = 4.01*10^11 m

Using the distance and speed of radiation we can calculate the time it needed for signal to reach the NASA (Earth)

speed of radiation is same as speed of light that 3*10^8 m/s

Time needed = distance / speed

          = 4.01*10^11 m / 3.0*10^8 m/s    

          = 1.34*10^3 s

Converting time from second to minutes

1.34*10^3 s * 1 min / 60 s = 22.3 min

So it will take about 22.3 minutes for signal to reach the NASA.

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