In: Physics
An uncrewed mission to the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is launched from the Earth's surface as a projectile with an initial speed of 42.9 km/s, just enough for the spacecraft to escape the Earth's gravity and leave the solar system. Ignoring air resistance and the Earth's rotation, what is the speed of the spacecraft when it is more than halfway to the star? Assume we are ignoring the effect of the Sun on the spacecraft.