Why doesn't the math add up?
(media.greatawakening.win)
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Add Earth's orbital velocity to the 26,400. It's a frame-of-reference problem.
Perseverance was headed away from Earth at 26.4 kMPH as we measure from the surface. Looking at it from a top-down perspective, Earth is headed around the sun at 67 kMPH, add the two.
From Mars' frame of reference, it has its own orbital velocity- 53 kMPH, which makes the Earth always appear as though it's headed toward or away from Mars at an additional 14 kMPH. Total delta-V 40.4 kMPH.
Also, the speed wasn't constant. Two additional burns happened during the journey- NASA noted it covered 1/2 the distance in 2/3 of the time.
The 26,400 is MPH not kilometers, but this explanation at least makes sense.
26,400 MPH = 26.4 kMPH. Same thing, fewer characters on a tiny phone keyboard. (k = 1000)
Sure, but what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
A little gratuitous, but African or European? Besides, it's not a matter of how he grips the husk...