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It’s more relevant how much you need to accelerate, not just your velocity. A satellite in orbit uses very little energy even though it’s going very fast.



A satellite in orbit uses the energy imparted by the gravitational force of the Earth to stay in orbit (and very little to no drag depending on the altitude).


Gravity doesn’t add energy to satellites in orbit. It changes the direction of motion but not the velocity. In effect it’s no different than rotating a solid object where electromagnetism keeps all the atoms in the same relative position.




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