Picture a cannon on a mountaintop so tall it clears the atmosphere. Fire a ball sideways. What happens depends on one thing only — the speed you fired it at. Skip introNext A cannon on a mountaintop fires a ball at 1.00 times the circular-orbit speed. The trajectory is a circular orbit. READY v = 1.00 · vₒ primed · v = 1.00 · vorbit Suborbital Orbit Ellipse Escape Fire! Launch speed 1.00 × vorbit vorbit vesc