Question

A 5.14E+4 kg space probe is traveling at a speed of 12600 m/s through deep space. Retrorockets are fired along the line of motion to reduce the probe's speed. The retrorockets generate a force of 3.80E+5 N over a distance of 2530 km. What is the final speed of the probe?

Answer 1

use energies. \[KE = 1/2 m v ^{2}\] which is what the rocket has initially, and work is a dot product between the Force and Displacement. remember C of E: \[E initial \pm \Delta W = E final\]
Hint: It only (theoretically) has kinetic energy after the rockets are shut off.

Answer 2

Thank you!