Joe
2008-05-27 10:53:27
Brenson, what goes up must come down. And it comes down just as fast as it went up. It works the same way even if the object never went up first.
A object falling from a long distance is going the same speed down as it would have to be going in the opposite direction to get up. The the phrase escape velocity tell you how fast you will be going when approaching a planetary body from a great distance.
Now it is possible to approach a planetary body at a speed greater than escape velocity, how because it is so difficult to make a object to go at great velocities, with rockets. It isn’t going to be happening in any normal planetary probe encounter.
