Orbit Lab

What your child will figure out

• Predict crash, orbit, or escape from a satellite's sideways speed before launch.
• Use the inward gravity arrow and curved path to explain why an orbit is still falling.
• Find a range of sideways speeds that produces a stable, nearly circular orbit.
• Predict that a planet with stronger gravity needs more sideways speed for a stable orbit.

The levels

1. The drop

   Observe that a satellite with no sideways speed falls straight into the planet.

2. Three speeds

   Compare at least two sideways speeds under the same gravity.

3. Stay in orbit

   Find any speed in a stable circular-orbit range and explain the continuously curved fall.

4. Heavy planet

   Transfer the speed–gravity relationship to a planet with 1.8 times Earth's gravity.