what are the forces acting on a satellite in *

:orbit
- Essentially there is only one force acting on the
geostationary satellite... gravity pulling it down to Earth. It
doesn't fall though because it has a velocity that is great
enough to prevent this from occuring. In otherwords, as
the satellite moves forwards it is pulled towards the
planet.
- If there no forces acting then the satellite would continue
in a straight line away from the planet... Newton's First
Law of motion. If the satellite did not have this forward
motion then it would simply fall to the planet.
- (i.e. There is essentially only one force acting on a
geostationary satellite, gravity causes it to have a curved
path rather than continue in a straight line(Newton's Law).
- The direction of the velocity and force act in such a way
that the satellite follows a curved (circular) path around a
planet. The fact that the direction changes (and hence
velocity changes) tells you that there must be a resultant
force acting on the satellite... Newton's Second Law of
motion. The mass of the planet is what provides the
force ... a gravitational force.

:Satellites, gravity and circular motion *

Gravity is a force of attraction between masses. It provides the centripetal force needed to keep a satellite in
orbit around a planet, or a planet in orbit around a star
such as the Sun. Geostationary satellites are used for
communications, and stay in a fixed position above the

Earths surface. Low polar orbit satellites are closer to the

ground, and are used for weather forecasting and imaging
.the Earth
:Centripetal force and gravity <<
A moving object will continue to move in a straight line at
the same speed unless a force acts on it. For an object to
.move in a circle, a force has to act on it all the time
This force is called the centripetal force. It acts towards
the centre of the circle. Gravity is the centripetal force
that keeps planets moving around the Sun, and satellites
.moving around planets
Gravity is the universal force of attraction between
masses. The greater the mass involved, the greater the
.force
The force of gravity between two objects with small
masses like a table and a chair is small because the
objects are. However, large objects like planets have a
much greater mass and so have a much greater
.gravitational force
:Satellites Higher tier <<
Artificial satellites are continually accelerating towards the
Earth. This is because of the gravitational force of
attraction between the satellite and the Earth. If a
satellite stopped moving forwards, the Earths
.gravitational pull would make it fall to Earth
The forward speed, or tangential motion, of a satellite :must be just right to keep the satellite in orbit
if the tangential motion is too slow, the satellite will fall
# .to Earth
if the tangential motion is too fast, the satellite will #
.travel away into space

Artificial satellites in lower orbits travel faster than ]

.[those in higher orbits
A satellite in low polar orbit is close to the ground,
so the gravitational attraction is strong. This produces a
high centripetal acceleration, so the tangential speed
.must be high
A geostationary satellite is further from the ground,
so the gravitational attraction is weaker. This produces
a lower centripetal acceleration, so the tangential
.speed must be less

*:geostationary (geosynchronous) orbit

An orbit in which a satellite appears to remain in the same
spot in the sky all the time. When a satellite is in
geostationary orbit, it travels at exactly the same speed
as the Earth is rotating below it. A satellite in
geostationary orbit is very high up, at 35 850 km above
the Earth. Geostationary satellites are always located
directly above the equator. The area with which a satellite
in geostationary orbit can communicate is called its
.footprint

*:Global Positioning System (GPS)

A satellite technology that uses mathematics to calculate
the position in three dimensions (latitude, longitude, and
altitude) of something on the Earth by measuring the time
it takes for the satellite's radio transmissions, travelling at
the speed of light, to reach the a receiver on the ground.
It requires a fleet of satellites in space. Applications of this
technology include determining a position on the Earth,
measuring the Earth's movement after an earthquake, or
.locating drop points for airlifted relief supplies

A satellite's orbit works because of a balance between two forces. The orbit is a combination of the satellite's
velocity - the speed it is travelling in a straight line - and
the force of the Earth's gravitational pull on the satellite.
These forces are similar to the forces that keep all the
planets in their places in the solar system. That
gravitational pull is the result of the mass or weight of the
Earth and the mass of the satellite. Basically, gravity
keeps the satellite's velocity from sending the satellite
flying out in a straight line away from the Earth, and the
satellite's velocity keeps the force of gravity from pulling
.the satellite back to Earth
To illustrate this concept, think of a yo-yo. There is a long string that holds the weight of the yo-yo ball at the end.
The yo-yo ball is the satellite, and your hand holding the
end of the string is the Earth (not to scale of course). If
you swung that yo-yo in a circle, then the string would act
as the gravity. Without the string, the yo-yo ball would fly

off into space, but without the weight and forward motion
of the yo-yo ball, the string would flop towards the
.ground
Since the Earth turns from west to east on its axis, satellites can either seem, from Earth, to be moving very
quickly or very slowly. A satellite in orbit travelling
towards the east would seem to be moving very slowly to
an observer on Earth. On the other hand, a satellite
moving toward the west would seem to be moving quickly
to someone on Earth. From Earth, there is only one orbit
that would seem like it wasn't moving, and that's a
.geostationary orbit

Is it possible to have a geostationary satellite over

*!?the poles
There cannot be a geostationary satellite at the poles, basically because it would have to be at rest, which
cannot happen as it would get pulled by the earth's
.gravity and eventually crash to the surface
In fact, there cannot be a geostationary satellite <<
anywhere else, except above the equator(in an equatorial
orbit). This is fairly easy to prove
Imagine that you wanted a satellite directly above the
place where you are right now, let's say 500 km away.
Now we know that the earth is rotating, so the place 500
km directly above you will also move in a circle. This circle

has its center somewhere on the rotational axis of the

earth(Not necessarily coinciding with the center of the
.earth)
If you want your satellite to move on that path, It will
require a centripetal force continuously acting towards
that center. Now if a satellite is purely under the influence
of earth's gravity, there is a force acting on it directed
towards the earth's center. Now if this force were to act as
the centripetal force for the motion we want for our
satellite, the orbit's center would have to coincide with
the earth's center, leading us to the fact that a
geostationary orbit has to necessarily be an equatorial
.orbit

At exactly 22,000 miles (35,900 km) above the equator,

the earth's force of gravity is canceled by the centrifugal
force of the rotating universe. This is the ideal location to
park a stationary satellite. The signal to the satellite is
very, very precise and any movement of the satellite
.would cause a loss of the signal

Stationary satellites need very small motors to keep <<

..them in their assigned slot
According to the heliocentric theory, the earth is moving
at about 1,000 mph at the equator. If the geostationary
satellites were moving, they would have to move at a
speed of about 7,000 mph to maintain a stationary orbit
above a fixed point on the earth. That is about the same
speed as the GPS satellites that orbit the earth twice a
day. However, GPS satellites are equipped with a rocket
.engine to maintain their orbit