Do satellites orbit 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. This position allows satellites to observe weather and other phenomena that vary on short timescales.

How high do you have to be to orbit the Earth?

But staying in orbit means avoiding losing energy to the Earth’s atmospheric drag. While the official threshold of space is 100km above the Earth, the effects of the atmosphere can be detected much higher. Even Hubble, which orbits at almost 600km, could be brought down by the creeping effect of drag.

Why are geostationary orbits above the equator?

Originally Answered: Why is the geostationary orbit necessarily above the equator? Because satellites orbit the center of mass of the planet which is in the center of the planet, more or less. So to orbit the Earth and stay above one place they need to orbit the equator.

Why must the satellite’s orbit lie in the plane of the equator?

Artificial satellites around the Earth Orbital planes of satellites are perturbed by the non-spherical nature of the Earth’s gravity. This causes the orbital plane of the satellite’s orbit to slowly rotate around the Earth, depending on the angle the plane makes with the Earth’s equator.

How far above the earth are satellites?

The majority of satellites orbiting the Earth do so at altitudes between 160 and 2,000 kilometers. This orbital regime is called low Earth orbit, or LEO, due to the satellites’ relative closeness to the Earth.

What is the lowest orbit possible?

There is an orbit around the Earth called the Low Earth orbit (LEO) with an altitude between 160-2000 km. This is the lowest altitude at which an object can go on orbiting around the Earth.

Do satellites orbit the earth?

A satellite orbits Earth when its speed is balanced by the pull of Earth’s gravity. Without this balance, the satellite would fly in a straight line off into space or fall back to Earth. Satellites orbit Earth at different heights, different speeds and along different paths.

Is Earth orbit inclined?

The earth’s axis of rotation is tilted 66.5 degrees with respect to its orbital plane around the sun and its axis of rotation is inclined 23.5 degrees from the perpendicular, with respect to this plane. The tilt of the earth affects the angle between the sun beam and the normal over a surface.

Can a plane orbit the Earth?

Three types of spaceplanes have successfully launched to orbit, reentered Earth’s atmosphere, and landed: the Space Shuttle, Buran, and the X-37. Another, Dream Chaser, is under development. As of 2019 all past, current, and planned orbital vehicles launch vertically on a separate rocket.

Can there be a geostationary orbit above the equator?

It’s impossible to have a geostationary orbit above any other plane than the equator because the satellite would experience a force towards the Earth’s centre taking it away from it’s geosynchronous orbit.

Why can satellites only orbit around the equator?

The path that almost any point on earth takes throughout the day is a small circle, except for points on the equator. Since satellites have to make a great circle (because they orbit around the center of the earth because that’s where the focus of earth’s gravity is), the only points they can hover over are on the equator.

Is it possible to have a polar geosynchronous orbit?

A polar geosynchronous orbit is possible. The term geosynchronous means that the orbital period is the same as the rotational period of the earth. It is not possible to have a geostationary orbit that is inclined with respect to the equator. Only equatorial geostationary orbits are possible.

How far above the Earth can a satellite be seen?

Clarke noted that in an orbit of 22,300 miles above the Earth, the velocity of a satellite exactly matched the velocity of the Earth’s surface as the planet rotated about its axis; thus from the Earth, a satellite would appear to remain in a fixed position in the sky. In such an orbit, a satellite could “see” 40 percent of the equatorial plane.