Question

NASA's Perseverance Rover was launched on July $30, 2020.$ After traveling $292,526,838$ miles, it landed on Mars in Jezero Crater about $6.5$ months later. Which of the following is closest to the Rover's average interplanetary speed in miles per hour?

$6,000$

$12,000$

$60,000$

$120,000$

$600,000$

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Written solution:

We can round the distance up to $300,000,000$ miles. We can also approximate $6.5$ months as $30 \times 6.5 = 195 \approx 200$ days. This means that the Rover traveled $300,000,000 \div 200 = 1,500,000$ miles per day. Dividing this by $24$ to get the speed in miles per hour yields $62,500,$ which is close to $60,000.$

Thus, C is the correct answer.

2023 AMC 8 Problem 11

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Problem 11 in Other Years