Answer to Question #175696 in Physics for Sinead Lordan

Question

hundreds of small cube satellites called CubeSats are being launched experimentally every year. NASA limits the altitude of these shoe box sized satellites to 700km so that the air friction will eventually slow them down and cause them to fall to earth within 25 years. what is the force of gravitational attraction between one of these 1.33kg satellites and the earth? the mass of the earth is 5.98 x 10²⁴kg and the radius of the earth is 6.4 x 10⁶ meters

Answer 1

$$F=G\frac{mM}{r^2}\\ F=(6.67\cdot10^{-11})\frac{(5.98\cdot10^{24})(1.33)}{(6.4\cdot10^{6}+7\cdot10^{5})^2}=10.5\ N$$