I am. outraged at the university's treatment of a retired professor.. Mark of Excellence The matter of the practical benefits of emeritus status, however, is amoot point at many institutions, especially community colleges, thatlack resources to share with retired faculty members.
Dear publish1000-ga; You posed a great question. The answer is really much simpler than it first appears. The US Space Shuttle uses a rocket propulsion system to get into its final orbit in its approach to Earth. Other than that the Shuttle is essentially falling and during re-entry the aircraft is actually a glider. The reentry speed is largely dictated by the Earth gravitational pull and given the physics of such a reentry the speed is typically approximately 25,405 feet per second (17,322 statute miles per hour).
Back to our lunch discussion: How fast, we wondered over our kebabs, would a geostationary satellite have to be moving to stay stationary in the sky? The space shuttle orbiter, we know, orbits at around 8,000 meters per second (18,000 miles per hour) but it does a complete orbit in about 90 minutes. Would a geostationary satellite be going faster or slower? To find out, I did a little math.