Question

How do you calculate orbital speed?

Answer 1

Orbital velocity:

1. The velocity needed to maintain an orbit for a satellite, whether natural or artificial, is known as its orbital velocity. Thus, the circular or elliptical orbital path demonstrates a balance between gravity and inertia.
2. A cannon shot fired from a mountaintop will travel farther if the muzzle velocity is increased. If the velocity is high enough, the bullet will never fail to reach the earth.
3. The more massive the body in the center of attraction is, the higher the orbital velocity for a given height or distance.
4. The less velocity a satellite needs to maintain orbit, the lower the gravitational force is the further it is from the center of attraction.

The following gives the orbital velocity equation,

$\Rightarrow {\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{orbit}}=\sqrt{\frac{\mathrm{GM}}{\mathrm{R}}}$

1. Where, $G=$gravitational constant, $M=$ mass of the body at the center, and $R=$ radius of the orbit.
2. Orbital velocity is measured in$meterspersecond(m/s).$