An artificial earth satellite has a circular orbit of radius 5.91 106 m (which means it is orbiting approximately -450 km above the surface of the earth) in an equatorial plane. The period T (the time required for one complete orbit) is 5.31 103 s (about 1.48 h).
(a) Compute the (constant) speed of the satellite.
(b) If the satellite is directly above the equator and traveling east at time t, find the average acceleration during the time interval from t to t + T/40.0. Magnitude? Direction?
(c) Find the satellite's instantaneous acceleration at time t. Magnitude? Direction?