The specifications: The spaceship has the shape of a cube of side s. Its propulsion is such that its velocity is parallel to an edge of the cube. Please answer in writing and in detail, and I will give a thumbs up.
A spaceship, with specifications as in the previous problem, and of mass M, is moving through empty space at a fixed velocity. Suddenly, it enters a cloud of dust particles, at rest. Each of mass m, the cloud itself has a mass density ĆĀ. Collisions with the dust act to slow the spaceship. (For simplicity, assume that such collisions are elastic head-on collisions; that is to say that the final masses of both the ship and the dust particles are the same as their initial masses, and that the final velocities are aligned along the initial velocity of the ship. Also assume that M > m.) The spaceship captain orders the jets turned on to maintain the ship's initial velocity. If the captain has the perfectly efficient flashlight drive Example 2.2, at what rate per unit proper time does the spaceship lose mass?