Physics > Gravitation > 6.0 Satellites

  Gravitation
    1.0 Newton's law of gravitation
    2.0 Variation of acceleration due to gravity
    3.0 Gravitational field
    4.0 Gravitational potential
    5.0 Gravitational potential energy
    6.0 Satellites
    7.0 Kepler's law of planetary motion
    8.0 Problem solving technique

6.5 Types of satellite
  • Geostationary satellite

    A satellite which revolves around the earth with the same angular speed in the same direction as is done by the earth around its axis is known as the geostationary or geosynchronous satellite.

    • The height of a geostationary satellite is about $36000 \ km$.
    • A geostationary (geosynchronous communication) satellite moves in a circular orbit in the equatorial plane at an approximate distance of $4.22 \times {10^{24}}\,km$ from the earth's center.
    • The orbit of a geostationary satellite is known as parking orbit. Its orbital velocity is about $3.1\,km/s$.


  • Polar satellite

    It is that satellite which revolves in the polar orbit around the earth.

    • A polar orbit is that orbit whose angle of inclination with the equatorial plane of earth is $90^\circ $. The polar satellites are low altitude satellites. They go around the poles of the earth from north to south direction whereas the earth rotates around its axis from west to east direction.
    • The altitude of polar satellites is about $500$ to $800\ km$ from the surface of the earth. The time period of revolution of polar satellites is about $100$ minutes.
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