What are equatorial satellites used for?

A satellite must be launched from a place on Earth close to the equator to get into equatorial orbit. Equatorial orbits are useful for satellites observing tropical weather patterns, as they can monitor cloud conditions around the globe.

What is the difference between an equatorial and polar satellite?

Equatorial satellites are launched into orbit in the same direction the Earth is spinning. When the satellite is in orbit at a specific altitude, it will exactly match the rotation of the Earth. Polar orbits pass over the Earth’s polar regions from north to south.

What are the two main types of satellites?

There are two different types of satellites – natural and man-made. Examples of natural satellites are the Earth and Moon. The Earth rotates around the Sun and the Moon rotates around the Earth. A man-made satellite is a machine that is launched into space and orbits around a body in space.

Why the satellites are not in equatorial orbits?

Why are LEO satellites never place in the equatorial place with near 0 degree inclination? The one reason I get is that since LEO is close to earth, the coverage cone is very small & if placed in the equatorial plane, it will cover only a small percentage of the earth surface & hence will be wasteful expenditure.

What is geostationary satellite in physics?

Definition: Geostationary satellites orbit the Earth at a speed that allows the satellite to stay exactly above the same spot on the Earth at all times. Geostationary satellites are used to transmit and receive information.

Do satellites fly over the North Pole?

Satellites can orbit Earth’s equator or go over Earth’s North and South Poles . . . or anything in between. They orbit at a low altitude of just a few hundred miles above Earth’s surface or thousands of miles out in space.

How many artificial satellites are in space?

Right now, there are nearly 6,000 satellites circling our tiny planet. About 60\% of those are defunct satellites—space junk—and roughly 40\% are operational. As highlighted in the chart above, The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), determined that 2,666 operational satellites circled the globe in April of 2020.

What kind of satellite is the moon?

satellites
The moon is a satellite because it moves around Earth. Earth and the moon are called “natural” satellites. But usually when someone says “satellite,” they are talking about a “man-made” satellite. Man-made satellites are machines made by people.

What is geocentric orbit type Staellies?

A geocentric orbit or Earth orbit involves any object orbiting Earth, such as the Moon or artificial satellites. In 1997, NASA estimated there were approximately 2,465 artificial satellite payloads orbiting Earth and 6,216 pieces of space debris as tracked by the Goddard Space Flight Center.

Why do we always see the same face of the moon?

“The moon keeps the same face pointing towards the Earth because its rate of spin is tidally locked so that it is synchronized with its rate of revolution (the time needed to complete one orbit). In other words, the moon rotates exactly once every time it circles the Earth.

Are all satellites above the equator?

It is always directly over the same place on the Earth’s surface. Satellites in geostationary orbit rotate with the Earth directly above the equator, continuously staying above the same spot.

How do satellites get into equatorial orbit?

To get into equatorial orbit, a satellite must be launched from a place on Earth close to the equator. NASA often launches satellites aboard an Ariane rocket into equatorial orbit from French Guyana. Equatorial orbits can be useful for satellites observing tropical weather patterns, as they can monitor cloud conditions around the globe.

How long is a day in the equatorial orbit?

This is a direct equatorial orbit about 35800km above the ground, the period of which is the same as the length of the sidereal day, about 23 hours 56 minutes. A satellite in this orbit, moving in the same direction as the Earth’s rotation, remains stationary as seen from points on the Earth’s surface.

What is a geostationary satellite?

A geostationary satellite has line of sight coverage of a great area of the Earth and, as Clarke noted in 1945, three of them suitably located around the Equator could cover almost all the Earth’s surface. Figure 51.1 shows, for example, the coverage provided by satellites located at 30°GW, 150°GW and 90°GE longitude.

What is the best orbit for a satellite to orbit?

By far the most useful orbit for communication satellites is the geostationary satellite orbit. This is a direct equatorial orbit about 35800km above the ground, the period of which is the same as the length of the sidereal day, about 23 hours 56 minutes.