Finding the altitude - spacecraft and satilite problem

[dopi]

Does anyone know how to solve this please, don't even know were to begin with this problem.

 

A spacecraft and its cargo (a satellite) is circling the Earth at a constant

speed and an altitude of 600km. Their combined mass is 1.20x10^5kg.

At thi = 0, the captain ejects the 1.10 x 10^4kg satellite out the back.

The speed of the satellite relative to the spacecraft at the time of the

separation is 100m/s

 

When the spacecraft reaches thi = pi, what will

its altitude above the Earth be?

 

Thanks

[[Tycho?]]

Using altitude find orbital velocity. Find momentum of combined mass. Find momentum of mass shot out back. Using conservation of momentum, find momentum of spacecraft. Find velocity. Find resulting altitude.

 

Does this sound right to anyone? I've never done a problem like this before.

[swansont]

Transient orbital mechanics isn't in my areas of expertise, but I think the angle given is significant, because (IIRC) when you give a satellite in a circular orbit an impulse, that point and the one at pi becomes the apogee and perigee of a new, elliptical orbit (which is which depends on the direction of the impulse). But the altitude at the original point is the same, so I think all you have to do is, as [Tycho?] suggests, is use conservation of momentum to find the new orbital velocity, and then you should have enough information to solve for the resulting elliptical orbit.