Quote:
Originally Posted by adman
What about an artificial satellite? Say the space shuttle. As it orbits, let's say it keeps it's underbelly oriented towards the earth - an identical situation to the moon,always keeping one face pointing to the earth. Do we say that it is rotating as it orbits the earth, or is it simply flying a curved path?
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That one is even harder to visualise as the space shuttle (and other sattelites) have engines to correct their orbit as required so it not quite the same. I also keep seeing images in my head of sattelites being deliberatly spun up prior to release into orbit.
If a die was released from the ISS with no spin as such but it would have the receive orbital momentum from the ISS. Assume that is starts with the 6 facing the earth. Would it fall around the earth and keep the 6 facing the earth or would we see the other numbers as it orbited but did not spin.
6
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v
6-> E <-6
^
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6
or
6
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v
5-> E <-2
^
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1