How Have Keplers Three Laws Of Planetary Motion Been Useful?
Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion have proved very useful to men in the scientific field. These laws are essential, along with the law of gravitation, in calculating the position and velocity of any planetary body. In 1976 American space technologists successfully landed the Viking I and Viking II spacecrafts on the surface of Mars. They were able to do this because they could determine exactly where Mars would be and at what speed it would be traveling when touchdown was made. If Johannes Kepler were alive today, he certainly would be amazed to see the startling feats that men have performed, using the laws he discovered! Interestingly, it has been proved over the years that the three laws of planetary motion hold true in many more cases than just in those involving the nine major planets of the solar system. These laws also describe the elliptical orbits of the asteroids, a group of nearly 2,000 small planet-like masses lying in a belt between Mars and Jupiter. Also, the motion
