They have orbit maintaining rockets to keep them in place. They are traveling fast enough not to be pulled all the way back to the Earth. If they go to slow they will burn up on the way in.
The altitude of a satellite's orbit depends on the purpose of the satellite. Photographic satellites orbit close to the Earth, to get a good view. They are about 130 miles up. We want weather satellites and communications satellites to stay in the same spot in the sky all the time, which is called "geo-synchronous orbit", 23,500 miles up. GPS satellites are about 12,000 miles up.
SatellitesSatellites orbit in outer space, not in the earth. They are sent to outer space where the gravitational pull of the earth pulls them around, just as the earth is pulled around the sun in a similar manner. The layer is the exosphere. It greatly depends on what the satellite is for and who owns it how far up it orbits. Imaging satellites need to be close to the Earth, so they orbit about 130 miles up. Communications satellites are generally at 23,000 miles up. GPS satellites are up about 13,000 miles.
That depends on the altitude. Low altitude satellites, about 140 miles up, take about 90 minutes to orbit. Communications satellites 23,000 miles up take 24 hours. The higher the orbit, the longer it takes.
Old satellites either remain in orbit as space debris, eventually falling back to Earth and burning up in the atmosphere, or are intentionally deorbited and moved to a "graveyard" orbit to reduce the risk of collision with operational satellites. Some may also be repositioned for alternative uses or repurposed for different missions.
Satellites and the space shuttle orbit in the thermosphere, a layer of the Earth's atmosphere located between the mesosphere and exosphere. Temperatures in the thermosphere can reach up to 2,500°C due to the absorption of solar radiation.
Satellites stay up in space due to how fast they are traveling. If an object is in motion around a planet at the correct speed it will orbit it without crashing towards the planet.
Sputnik was a family name for a series of satellites, most of which burned up during reentry after some time in orbit.
Because satellites can't stay in orbit if they're moving through air, so they have to be high enough where there's no air.
There are currently 32 GPS satellites Orbiting earth at 20,000Kms above sea level There are also 24 GLONASS satellites (The russian version of a GPS satellite) Which many high end GPS receivers will use in conjunction with the standard GPS satellites. These orbit a little lower than GPS at arond 19,000Kms above sea level. There are 4 Galileo Satellites, which are currently un used, but are the start of the European satellite constealltion which is a work in progress. They orbit at 24,000Kms above sea level. On top of all that, there are 10 Chinese navigation satellites called COMPASS orbiting in an orbit above China and Asia. They orbit at around 21,000 Kms above sea level.
They just continue orbiting until they naturally de-orbit. Right now there's no organized effort to clean them up or purposefully de-orbit then, so they keep going until the orbit decays.
Anything up to 2000 km (1240 miles) above sea level. Low earth orbiting satellites can suffer from atmospheric drag at very low altitudes, although there is little gas around at their orbit, there may still be enough to slow the satellite and cause it's orbit to decay. The lowest satellites would be around 300km in altitude, but would not be able to sustain orbit without an occasional boost.
Precise numbers of "spy satellites" are unavailable, and constantly changing. Dozens, certainly. There are several different types of "spy satellites". There are photographic reconnaissance satellites, designed to take detailed photos of the surface. There are electronic surveillance satellites, designed to capture and record electronic signals such as radios.
a lot
the same way rockets, space shuttles and space stations join up. travel in the same direction, same orbit, similar speed and slowly approach each other
Artificial and natural satellites. Artificial satellites are man-made satellites sent into space for a variety of different purposes e.g. taking pictures of the earth for scientific investigation Natural satellites are moons, which orbit planets and are not man-made.
GPS system
NO! they just are up there floating around they are not large enough to have an orbit.