A geosynchronous Earth satellite is one that has an orbital period of precisely 1 day. Such orbits are useful for communication and weather observation because the satellite remains above the same point on Earth (provided it orbits in the equatorial plane in the same direction as Earth’s rotation). Calculate the radius of such an orbit based on the data for the moon in Table 6.2.

Data given in Table 6.2

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Parent Satellite Average orbital radius r(km) 3.84 x 105 5.79 x 107 Earth Moon Sun Mercury Venus Earth Mars 1.082 x 108 1.496 × 108 X 2.279 × 108 X Period T(y) 0.07481 0.2409 0.6150 1.000 1.881 ³/T² (km³/y²) 1.01 x 1019 3.34 x 1024 3.35 x 1024 3.35 x 1024 3.35 x 1024