When the Philae probe landed on Comet 67P, it took approximately 28 minutes for a
radio signal to be received at the European Space Operations Centre. Determine the
distance (in metres) from the Philae probe to Earth.
distance=speedlight*timeinseconds
so remember that light from our Sun to get to Earth takes only 8 minutes frm Sun to Earth, so this distance must be about 3 1/2 times as far.
Thank you!
To determine the distance from the Philae probe to Earth, we can make use of the fact that radio signals travel at the speed of light, which is approximately 299,792,458 meters per second.
Given that it took approximately 28 minutes (or 28 x 60 = 1680 seconds) for the radio signal to be received, we can calculate the distance using the formula:
Distance = Speed × Time
Distance = 299,792,458 m/s × 1680 s
Calculating this:
Distance ≈ 503,726,144,640 meters
Therefore, the distance from the Philae probe to Earth is approximately 503,726,144,640 meters.