How long does it take for a satellite to orbit the earth once?

Answer 1

There are a great number of satellites around the Earth, each in its own orbit. The time to complete each orbit varies from about 90 minutes, for satellites in LEO (low Earth orbit) to 24 hours for satellites in geo-synchronous orbits. There are some satellites in higher orbits that take even longer.

One the satellites in LEO is the International Space Station, and the Shuttles when in orbit.

All of the GPS satellites are in highly-inclined 12-hour orbits. Most communications satellites are in geosynch 24-hour orbits, so that the satellites appear to remain stationary in the sky as they orbit the Earth.

You can display a real-time 3-D plot of most satellites now in orbit by running NASA's "J-Track 3D" program at http://science.nasa.gov/Realtime/jtrack/3d/JTrack3d.html.

Answer 2

If the satellite is in a relatively low orbit - the most common case - it will take about 90 minutes (one and a half hour) to orbit the Earth once. If the satellite is farther away, it will take longer.

Answer 3

That depends on the satellite's distance from the center of the earth.

The shortest ... and smallest ... possible satellite orbit, about 4,000 miles from the center and

just outside the atmosphere, takes about 86 minutes for each revolution.

The satellites that broadcast TV to those little dishes on everybody's garage are about 22,000 miles out,

and travel around earth once every 23 hours 56 minutes 4 seconds.

The earth's one and only natural satellite is about 238,000 miles out, and takes 27.32 days

to travel around the earth once.

Answer 4

The answer: It depends on how high the satellite is above the Earth.

Lets examine three cases:

Low earth orbit: About every hour or 90 minutes

Geosynchronous orbits: Once every 24 hours

The Moon: Once every 28 days or so

Obviously the orbital period can vary significantly. This variation is not random however, it follows the equation

(T2/R3) = (4pi2)/(G x MCentral)

where T is the period of the satellite, R is the average radius of orbit for the satellite (distance from center of central planet), and G is 6.67 x 10-11 N•m2/kg2 and MCentral is the mass of the planet the satellite orbits.

Interestingly enough, the mass of the satellite does not appear in the equation. You can have a giant space station and a small object (lost nut or bolt) in the same orbit and they will never drift apart.

Answer 5

About 12 hours (or, if you want to get technical, exactly 12 sidereal hours).

Answer 6

Most all satellites take about one full day to orbit the earth. Being that satellites in orbit rotate at the same rate as the earth itself making it seem as if it were stationary.

Answer 7

A satellite in geostationary orbit revolves around earth once each sidereal day ... roughly 23hrs 56min.

Answer 8

A satellite in near-Earth orbit takes about one and a half hours to orbit Earth. The fact that the satellite goes over the poles doesn't change this.

Answer 9

23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds aprrox.

Answer 10

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