07. Is it severely hot passing through the Earth's atmosphere? (A K2S Question)
From The Space Library
The temperature of the Earth's atmosphere varies from about 45° F at the surface to 1700° F at 120 miles up. Satellites and rockets get hot passing through the atmosphere because they are usually moving at tremendous speeds. If a rocket moved slowly through the atmosphere it would not get very hot.
Answer provided by Robert P. McCoy, Ph.D.
Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer
Buy This Book Click here |