Calculating Distances

Distance (Radar)--Radar is a of form of electromagnet radiation, so it travels at the speed of light. The speed of light depends on what it is travelling through. It works best when it's travelling through a vacuum... space is a pretty good vacuum. To measure the distance to your target you just send a signal, and wait for it to bounce off of an object, and come back.

To find out how to calculate distance from time, follow these steps:

1. Find out how long it takes the radar beam to go and come back from the planet or moon. Divide that time by 2 to find the time for a one way trip.

2. Multiply that by 60 if in minutes. If in hours, multiply by 60 2 times. If it's in seconds, leave it alone.

3. Then multiply that by 186,000 miles per second because you are travelling at light speed.

4. After you do those steps, you shold get your answer--the number of miles to get to the space object.
Example:
60 minutes round trip
/2 for one way
------------
30 minutes
x60 seconds in a minute
------------
1,800 seconds
186,000 miles per second
x 1,800 seconds
-------------
334,800,000 miles away=answer