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[nb 1] Earth's orbital speed averages 29.78 km/s (19 mi/s; 107,208 km/h; 66,616 mph), which is fast enough to cover the planet's diameter in 7 minutes and the distance to the Moon in 4 hours. [3] The point towards which the Earth in its solar orbit is directed at any given instant is known as the "apex of the Earth's way".
Earth rotates once in about 24 hours with respect to the Sun, but once every 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds with respect to other distant stars . Earth's rotation is slowing slightly with time; thus, a day was shorter in the past. This is due to the tidal effects the Moon has on Earth's rotation.
The orbital distance of Earth will increase to at most 150% of its current value (that is, 1.5 AU (220 million km; 140 million mi)). [ 17 ] The most rapid part of the Sun's expansion into a red giant will occur during the final stages, when the Sun will be about 12 billion years old.
According to Space.com, for an object to become a mini-moon it needs to approach Earth at a distance of roughly 2.8 million miles and move slowly, at a speed of around 2,200 mph.
It takes 250 days (0.68 years) in the transit to Mars, and in the case of a free-return style abort without the use of propulsion at Mars, 1.5 years to get back to Earth, at a total delta-v requirement of 3.34 km/s. Zubrin advocates a slightly faster transfer, that takes only 180 days to Mars, but 2 years back to Earth in case of an abort.
For a satellite to be in a stable orbit (i.e. sustainable for more than a few months), 350 km is a more standard altitude for low Earth orbit. For example, on 1 February 1958 the Explorer 1 satellite was launched into an orbit with a perigee of 358 kilometers (222 mi). [ 5 ]
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Kilometers Miles light-second 1 light-second 299 792 458 m: 2.998 × 10 5 km: 1.863 × 10 5 miles: Average distance from the Earth to the Moon is about 1.282 light-seconds light-minute 60 light-seconds = 1 light-minute 17 987 547 480 m: 1.799 × 10 7 km: 1.118 × 10 7 miles: Average distance from the Earth to the Sun is 8.317 light-minutes ...