why it is much more difficult to send a satellite to the sun than it is to send it outside the solar system.

Question

A friend told me that with the current engineering we cannot send a satellite to the sun (just reaching it, not survival) because we would have to nullify the velocity of earth with respect to the sun. I’m not sure I understand and not sure if that is true.

In: Physics

Answer 1

The Earth is moving at about 67,000 miles per hour. When you launch an object from Earth, it starts off with that same speed.

That speed is why the planet, and any other object, stays in orbit. In order to get closer, you have to reduce the speed. To get to the sun, you have to reduce that speed to almost 0.

The escape velocity from the sun at Earth’s distance is 94,000 miles per hour. So to launch an object out of the solar system, you only need to change its speed by 27,000 miles per hour.