Question: How can you tell the speed of a spacecraft from the inside when there is no way to measure it in relationship to anything else?
Sierra1
9th Nov 2015
9th Nov 2015
Question: How can you tell the speed of a spacecraft from the inside when there is no way to measure it in relationship to anything else?
Answer: Using readings from an inertial guidance system (accelerometers and gyroscopes) a computer calculates the current velocity by detecting every instance of acceleration, deceleration and trajectory change. Another way is to measure the Doppler shift in radio waves from the spacecraft to mission control.
Sierra1 ★