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A non-Sun-synchronous orbit (magenta) is also shown for reference. Dates are shown in white: day/month. A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, [1] is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time.
Polar orbits are used for Earth-mapping, reconnaissance satellites, as well as for some weather satellites. [2] The Iridium satellite constellation uses a polar orbit to provide telecommunications services. Near-polar orbiting satellites commonly choose a Sun-synchronous orbit, where each successive orbital pass occurs at the same local time of ...
This visualization illustrates how NOAA-20 orbit phasing and raising works relative to Suomi NPP, the notional way can be maneuvered a quarter-orbit along-track separation from NOAA-20 prior to launch of JPSS-2, and how a three-satellite constellation operates on a Sun-synchronous orbit node-crossing including sensor-swath footprints as the world turns below.
A synchronous orbit around Earth that is circular and lies in the equatorial plane is called a geostationary orbit. The more general case, when the orbit is inclined to Earth's equator or is non-circular is called a geosynchronous orbit. The corresponding terms for synchronous orbits around Mars are areostationary and areosynchronous orbits.
A low orbit will have an orbital period of roughly 100 minutes and the Earth will rotate around its polar axis about 25° between successive orbits. The ground track moves towards the west 25° each orbit, allowing a different section of the globe to be scanned with each orbit. Most are in Sun-synchronous orbits.
Earth-Sun L 2 —approximately 1.5 million kilometers from Earth in the anti-sun direction—is another important Lagrange point, and the ESA Herschel space observatory operated there in a Lissajous orbit during 2009–2013, at which time it ran out of coolant for the space telescope. Small station-keeping orbital maneuvers were executed ...
For a satellite orbiting the Earth directly above the Equator, the plane of the satellite's orbit is the same as the Earth's equatorial plane, and the satellite's orbital inclination is 0°. The general case for a circular orbit is that it is tilted, spending half an orbit over the northern hemisphere and half over the southern.
Low Earth orbit satellites take advantage of the fact that certain polar orbits set near the terminator do not suffer from eclipse, therefore their solar cells are continuously lit by sunlight. Such orbits are called dawn-dusk orbits, a type of Sun-synchronous orbit. This prolongs the operational life of a LEO satellite, as onboard battery life ...