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Because that's how physics works.

Satellites are "pulled" towards the Earth (or towards whatever they're satellites of) by gravity. However, they're also moving "sideways" at the same time.

You can think of a satellite as constantly falling, but also moving sideways fast enough that by the time they've fallen far enough to impact the surface, they've moved to the side enough to miss the primary completely.

The actual situation is a little more complicated than that (among other things, the directions of "down" and "sideways" keep changing), but that should be close enough to help convince you that satellites don't need anything except speed (their orbital velocity) to make them "stay up".

Actually, maybe I can do even better. If you do a coordinate transformation into a rotating frame in which the directions of "down" and "sideways" become constant, a new force will appear in the equations, which is diametrically opposed to ... and exactly enough to ... balance the pull of gravity.

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What direction do satallites go circling the earth?

They go around and around. More artificial satellites proceed from west to east, because it takes less energy (fuel) to launch a satellite into that kind of orbit. But there's no fundamental reason why a satellite can't go in any direction you want. The only requirements are . . . -- The center of the Earth has to be in the plane of the orbit. -- If you expect it to stay up there for a while, then the satellite has to stay outside most of the Earth's atmosphere.


What is the name of the orbit of the satellite around the earth?

A Geostationary orbit - it means that the satellite will always stay above the same point on Earth. Hope that helps


Is there any satellite or robots that have explored neptune close up?

have any satellite or robots look-up close to neptune


How does a satellite stay in one place?

For a satellite to stay in one place over the earth, the satellite must be going in orbit in the same direction that the earth spins. The satellite must also travel at the same pace/speed as the earth spins to give us the 24-hour day that we as people witness. To apparently stay in one place it must be in a synchronous orbit. For the earth this is about 24,000 miles altitude. It must also be an equatorial satellite.


How much does it cost to move a satellite an inch?

Once you successfully get it into orbit, it costs nothing for it to stay there. Think of the Moon ... nobody pays anything to keep it there, and yet it has stayed up there for millions of years.

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What direction do satallites go circling the earth?

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What are telecommunication links?

In satellite communication, up link refers to the signal traveling up to the satellite while down link refers to the signal coming from the satellite down to earth.


What is the name of the orbit of the satellite around the earth?

A Geostationary orbit - it means that the satellite will always stay above the same point on Earth. Hope that helps


Is there any satellite or robots that have explored neptune close up?

have any satellite or robots look-up close to neptune


When did the first satellite went up?

4th October 1957 .. it was called the Sputnik Satellite :)


How does a satellite stay in one place?

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How do you set up receiver?

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Why rain affect satellite?

The satellite is in space, the satellite receiver is on Earth. The rain is in the atmosphere between the satellite and the receiver. The more rain, the more of the signal from the satellite will be used up by the atmosphere on its way down instead of reaching the receiver.