What is the minimum altitude for a satellite?

What is the minimum altitude for a satellite?

Making a satellite orbit at that height, however, is impractical due to the atmospheric drag of the very thin atmosphere, so most satellites are placed into orbit well above the Kármán line at altitudes between 350 and 1,500 km. The line at 100 km above the Earth's surface is the official start of space.

What is the highest altitude satellite?

Nasa satellites break Guinness record for highest altitude fix of GPS signal. Washington: Nasa's Magnetospheric Multiscale mission (MMS) has set the Guinness World Record for highest altitude fix of a GPS signal— at 70,000km above the surface of the Earth.

What is altitude in satellite communication?

Orbital altitudes range from 2,000 to 36,000 kilometres (1,200 to 22,400 mi) above Earth. The region below medium orbits is referred to as low Earth orbit (LEO), and is about 160 to 2,000 kilometres (99 to 1,243 mi) above Earth.

Do satellites lose altitude?

Atmospheric drag at orbital altitude is caused by frequent collisions of gas molecules with the satellite. It is the major cause of orbital decay for satellites in low Earth orbit. It results in the reduction in the altitude of a satellite's orbit.

What is the lowest possible Earth orbit?

There is an orbit around the Earth called the Low Earth orbit (LEO) with an altitude between 160-2000 km. This is the lowest altitude at which an object can go on orbiting around the Earth.

How high do satellites have to be to stay in orbit?

And satellites that orbit close to Earth must travel at very high speeds to stay in orbit. For example, the satellite NOAA-20 orbits just a few hundred miles above Earth. It has to travel at 17,000 miles per hour to stay in orbit. On the other hand, NOAA's GOES-East satellite orbits 22,000 miles above Earth.

Which is the closest satellite to Earth?

Moon Moon is the closest satellite to Earth.

How do you find the altitude of a satellite?

To find altitude, subtract the radius of Mars from this number. Remember to always use the distance from the core of the planet in these calculations! The satellite in Mars geostationary orbit must be stationed 17005 Kilometers above the surface of the planet and it must be travelling at a speed of 1446 m/s .

What determines the altitude of a satellite?

• Azimuth and Elevation are measures used to identify the position of a satellite flying overhead. Azimuth tells you what direction to face and Elevation tells you how high up in the sky to look. Both are measured in degrees. Azimuth varies from 0° to 360°.

What altitude is minimum for launching a satellite?

• A good minimum height for a satellite is 100 km above the Earth's surface. This is the official definition of space (the Kármán line) because there are so few gas particles above this altitude

What is the altitude of the lowest flying satellite?

• The lowest altitude for a single orbit (lasting about 90 minutes) before re-entry is about 125 km (80 miles). The altitude counted as "Entry Interface" for the US Space Shuttle orbiters was 122km. These numbers are based on actual decays of satellite rocket bodies and other fairly massive, relatively low drag objects.

Do all satellites orbit Earth at the same altitude?

• No, satellites that orbit at different altitudes have different speeds. Satellites that are further away actually travel slower. The International Space Station has a Low Earth Orbit, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) above the earth's surface.