How Do Satellites Travel?

Answer 1

Gravity causes satellites to orbit the Earth. The satellite moves laterally relative to the Earth while the Earth's gravity pulls it down toward the Earth, resulting in a system where the satellite remains at the same distance from the Earth.

It is simplest to understand gravitational orbit if from the standpoint of a fixed system with a spherical Earth at the center and the satellite directly above it. Drawing an imaginary line through the Earth and the satellite (call this the vertical center line) and another imaginary line through the Earth perpendicular to (i.e. at a 90-degree angle to) the vertical center line.

Initially, gravity is pulling directly down, toward the center of the Earth, and the satellite is moving perpendicular to this force -- for this argument, we'll say it's moving directly to the left. Now, as it moves to the left, away from the Earth laterally, the Earth's gravity pulls it downward.

In this next step, it is closer to the Earth vertically but further from the Earth laterally. The Earth's gravity, pulling toward itself, now pulls slightly laterally because the object is no longer directly above but now slightly to the left of our imaginary vertical center line. Thus, it begins to slow down, and the further it gets laterally from the Earth, the greater the portion of the Earth's gravitational force is dedicated to pulling to the right. This also means that the downward-pulling part of the Earth's gravity decreases as the object nears the horizontal center line.

After many of these steps, with the force of Earth's gravity pulling less and less strongly downward and more and more laterally, the satellite now stops moving laterally due to the force from gravity. However, the force from gravity has also accelerated the satellite downward, and now it's moving quite quickly downward -- downward, however, is no longer toward the Earth because the ball has moved quite a bit out to the left before being slowed to a stop laterally by the Earth's gravity.

If the satellite is in orbit, meaning that it has the correct initial speed for the distance from the Earth, then when the satellite is entirely stopped from moving to the left, it will be moving downward at the same speed as the initial speed to the left (when the satellite was on the vertical center line). At this point, the Earth is pulling the object directly toward itself, which is directly to the right. It is no longer pulling down at all. The object then begins to "fall" to the right. In the next instant, the object has begun to move to the right, but has fallen downward past the horizontal line, so Earth's gravity now pulls upward to bring the satellite closer to itself.

While it is easy to look at orbit from a fixed system with the satellite moving around the Earth, it's also true that because the Earth is roughly spherical, the system can be viewed the same way no matter where it is. When the satellite is directly to the left of the Earth in the previous explanation, the picture can be rotated to the right 90 degrees to see the exact same picture as when it started. At every position in the orbit around the Earth, the picture of the satellite can be rotated to the left or right to be the same as any other point on the orbit.

This ultimately means that the satellite always just stays at the same distance from the Earth moving at the same speed perpendicular to the Earth's gravity. The Earth pulls the satellite closer to itself, but the satellite is moving quickly enough that gravity just changes the direction of the satellite rather than the distance.

It can be easily proven mathematically that this particular argument works; however, math can be difficult to visualize physically and a proper argument requires some knowledge of calculus.

Note that there is no correct "speed" of orbit or distance from the Earth. Objects that are closer to the Earth fall more quickly and therefore require a higher speed perpendicular to Earth's gravity to remain in orbit. This occurs naturally, just as a ball on a string will spin more quickly if you pull harder on the string. Similarly, objects can orbit more slowly at greater distances.

Answer 2

Most rotate east to west - the same direction as the Earth below.

This is a requirement for geostationary orbit, and requires the least energy for launch.

But there are other sattelites that travel in any other conceivable direction;

the most common "weird" direction is pole to pole.

Answer 3

Satellites orbit Earth the same way the Moon does.

The satellite is pulled by the Earth's gravity.

It is also "wants" to move in a straight line because of its own inertia.

That's the "centrifugal effect".

Thus it orbits around the Earth.

Answer 4

Satellites make use of the effects of gravity to establish orbit and to stay in orbit. By falling freely under gravity, a satellite with sufficient sideways motion will follow an eliptical orbit around the earth or other body.

Answer 5

Satellites travel by means of their existing momentum. Without gravity of the body they are orbiting they would fly off in a hypothetical straight line, but with gravity, they orbit the body in an ellipse.

Answer 6

If the Earth's gravity were suddenly shut off, all of our satellites would continue in a straight line away from the Earth in the direction that they were traveling at that instant. (Everything on the face of the Earth would do the same - and the planet would fly apart also, due to its' rotation!)

The Earths' gravity attracts everything within its' influence, but the attraction weakens with distance. At every altitude above the planet there is a specific speed at which an object falls at the same rate it is flying away from the earth, hence it will orbit our planet at that altitude until something slows or increases its' speed.

The shuttles, the space station and other low-flying craft orbit in a matter of minutes to a few hours. 22.000 miles above the equator, a satellite revolves around the planet in approximately 24 hours, and appears stationary in the sky. That's why your satellite dish can be pointed in one direction. The moon is so far away that it takes about 29 days to orbit our planet.

Our planet orbits the Sun and is always falling towards it just like our satellites do, but we are so far away that it takes a full year for us to make it all the way around!

Answer 7

gravity pulls it from both ways just enough so that it remains in stable orbit (along with some help from peoples down in NASA) and the rotation or the planet keeps it movin along with the pull around the sun. hope this helps
peace out,
nikki

Answer 8

Here is an answer that might seem childish or facetious at first, but I've had some good luck

getting the idea across with this explanation, and I urge you to try it out.

You have several baseballs, and you're going to exercise your pitching power. One at a time,

you'll take each Baseball, throw it perfectly horizontally, and see how far it goes before it hits

the ground.

You toss the first ball easily, and it hits the ground a few meters in front of you.

You toss the next one with more speed, and it goes a few meters farther than the first one went.

You toss the next one with even more speed, and it goes even farther before it hits the ground.

The faster the ball leaves your hand, the farther it goes before it meets the surface. Gravity takes

some time to pull it down, and the faster it goes horizontally, the farther it can go during that time.

Now, remember that the earth isn't flat. It's a sphere. If you start out horizontally and keep going

in a straight line, the sphere (earth) curves down and away from you.

Same is true for the baseball ... You throw it horizontally. As it flies away from you, gravity pulls it

down, always toward the center of the earth. But because the earth is a sphere, the earth's surface

also curves down from level, as the level gets farther from you.

If you throw the baseball fast enough, the earth curves down and away from it just as fast as gravity

pulls it toward the center of the earth. So it keeps falling, but the surface falls away just as fast ! The

baseball never falls fast enough to hit the ground, because gravity doesn't pull it down hard enough.

It just keeps falling all the way around the earth, never catching the ground.

If the ball it has to plow through the air, then it loses its sideways speed, and eventually it does fall

to the ground. That's why there are no artificial satellites that just barely skim the ground ... they

have to stay out of the atmosphere, or else they'll run out of steam. But on the moon, where there's

no air to slow down an artificial satellite, it can stay in an orbit that's just high enough to clear the

mountain tops.

Answer 9

the satellite will be placed inside the space shuttle, the space shuttle goes off to space and as soon as it reach its destination in the atmosphere preferably the ionosphere it will relase the satelite to go on its own orbit.

Answer 10

Satellites are attached to a rocket, just like sending a manned flight into space. As the rocket ascends, its boosters fall back to earth. Once the satellite reaches the correct altitude, it begins to orbit the earth. All of the boosters or rocket pieces fell to earth; most burn up in the higher atmosphere so there's no harm to life. Some parts may fall into the ocean.