Answer the following question:
What is meant by the orbit of a satellite? On what basis and how are the orbits of artificial satellites classified?
Answer:
An orbit is a regular, repeating path that satellite takes around the earth to revolve. Depending on the height of the satellite’s orbit above the earth surface, the orbit of satellites are classified as follows-
i. High earth orbits- If the height of the satellite’s orbit above the earth’s surface is greater than or equal to 35780 km, the orbit is called high earth orbit. These satellites almost take 24 hours to complete one revolution. These are also called geosynchronous satellites. They are used in meterology, carry signals for telephone, TV, radio etc.
ii. Medium earth orbits- If height of the satellite orbit above the earth’s surface is in between 2000 km and 35780 km the orbits are called medium earth orbits.
iii. Low earth orbits – If the height of the satellite orbit above the earth’s surface is in between 180 km and 2000 km the orbits are called low earth orbits. They are used for scientific experiments and atmospheric studies.
