The Physics Of Satellites Orbiting Earth

Since the launch of the first satellite Sputnik 1 in 1957, space flight has transitioned from being centered on politics to being focused on more scientific and commercial applications. Nowadays, satellites play an integral role in our daily lives providing us with services like weather forecasts, navigation, communication and television. Satellites make significant contributions to scientific research as well. One of many such examples is the Hubble Space Telescope, which has helped to make many important discoveries about deep space. Valuable in terms of their contributions to science and our everyday lives, satellites are also quite expensive. The International Space

On the other hand, the geomagnetic storms have been intensified and enhanced in their frequency as magnetic fields of coronal mass ejections indulges with that of the earth that causes change of direction and leave more radiation and magnetic energy into the environment of the planet earth. Solar Hemispheric Observatory and Solar

NASA has sponsored space expeditions, both human and mechanical, that have yielded vital information about the solar system and universe. It has also launched numerous earth-orbiting satellites that have been instrumental in everything from weather forecasting to navigation to global communications.There are essentially three types of Earth orbits: high Earth orbit, medium Earth orbit, and low Earth orbit. Many weather and some communications satellites tend to have a high Earth orbit, which means that its farthest away from the surface of earth. Satellites that orbit in a medium Earth orbit include navigation and specialty satellites, designed to monitor a particular region. Most scientific satellites, including NASA’s Earth Observing System fleet, have a low Earth orbit. The distance between the satellite and Earth’s surface, determines how quickly the satellite moves around the Earth. An Earth-orbiting satellite’s motion is mostly controlled by Earth’s gravity. As satellites get closer to Earth, the pull of gravity gets stronger, and the satellite moves more

Atmospheric circulation is actually caused by the unbalanced heating of the earth 's surface by the sun and changes with temperature and precipitation. In addition, it 's affected by the rotation of the earth on its axis, since year after year the earth undergoes seasonal phases of the weather, for instance, the rotation will either be towards or away from the sun. Unlike most seasons, summer is when the ozone levels are high because the ultraviolet

It follows the Milankovitch cycles, cycles that determine the timing of the seasons and amount of solar radiation that enters the atmosphere. This variation is caused by the shifting in the Earth’s orbit and rotation. Because of these changes, the Earth endure periods of cold and warm cycles (Ice Age and Past Climates, n.d.). Before the Little Ice Age, there was the medieval warm period, or MWP. This warming has said to have started in 900 CE and lasted until 1300, bringing warm conditions for most parts of the world, predominantly in the Northern Hemisphere. Although there is no sure measurement to how much warmer the Earth’s surface temperature was during this time, some scientists estimate the change to be about 1-2 degrees Celsius higher (Rafferty,

The Earth moves in an ellipse (Oval-like) cycle meaning that it moves closer and further away to the sun as time passes. This distance to the Sun is called “eccentricity” (Page 106) and has a direct decreasing correlation: as distance to the Sun from Earth increases, the amount of Solar Radiation decreases. This and other variations (which I can touch upon but I only have a page) can not be responsible however because they are “so slow that it takes at least a thousand years to make any significant change in the amount of incoming sunlight.” (page 107).

Sunspot activity follows an 11-year cycle known as the sunspot cycle. The times of their peak activity correspond to times of increased radiation received by earth. The number of sunspots varies within the 11-year cycle, with some cycles showing more sunspot activity than others. They are not permanent features of the sun, and can last from a few hours to a few months.

In Low Earth-circle, objects go at 4 miles (7 kilometers) every second. At that speed, a little bit of paint packs the same punch of a 550 pound object going at 60 miles for every hour. Not just can such an effect harm basic segments, for example, pressurized things, sunlight based cells, or ties, they can likewise make new bits of possibly debilitating

Today, the number of satellites to ever launch into space is about 7,500 (Urry, 2014). The number of space debris identified by NASA is over millions of all sizes (“SciTechTalk”). The satellites and particles in the Low Earth Orbit are of greatest concern to scientists because this is where most of the operational satellites orbit around (Jessa, 2011).

Often this is also called “Air Resistance.” Drag is when forces are acting in the opposite direction of the motion of an object. Impact: Impact is the high force (or shock) applied over a short period of time when 2 or more objects collide. The effect depends on the relative velocity (or speed) of the two objects to one another. An object at rest tends to remain at rest and an object in motion tends to continue moving in a straight-line at constant speed unless an outside force acts upon it.

In 1945, Joseph Henry and Stephen Alexander, professors from Princeton University, discovered that sunspots emitted less radiation than surrounding areas of the sun. This is because the Sun’s outer shell, the photosphere, behaves as plasma, which is a very good conductor of electricity, and interacts with the magnetic fields of sunspots. The plasma slows down and cools to 1000 K less than the surrounding photosphere which makes it look darker than the surrounding areas. These areas were concentrated magnetic fields appear, are usually part of a loop, as sunspots generally present in pairs which line up parallel to the equator, showing a magnetic polarity. The sunspots in each hemisphere have the opposite polarity to the other. Over the 11 year cycle, the whole polarity reverses as the new set of sunspots form away from the Sun’s equator. Therefore, a complete 22 year cycle returns the polarity to its original

Every year, the amount of debris orbiting the Earth grows, creating an increasingly hazardous zone for satellites and even astronauts. Although some objects or shrapnel look small, their destructive force is greatly magnified by the hostile conditions of space. According to NASA, pieces as small as softballs can be traveling at an astonishing 17,500 miles per hour. Due to these enormous orbital speeds, any of these objects have the potential to damage or destroy the satellites that we depend on. In fact, even a tiny paint fleck has caused enough damage to the windshields of spacecraft that the windows had to be replaced (Space Debris and Human Spacecraft). In addition to damaged windows, images show that even objects less than half an inch in diameter can puncture through the structure of the space shuttle Endeavour (Trouble in orbit: the growing problem of space junk). The fact that such puny pieces of junk can cause such severe damage upon space shuttles suggests that spacecraft are mere inflated balloons to space due to the high velocities objects are travelling. This only makes situations worse for humans as there is no really protected inside or

The solar wind containing these hot gases races toward the edges of the solar system, and smash in to the magnetosphere. The magnetosphere protects the earth by deflecting most of the solar wind around the planet. Trillions of these charged particles mange to get through and project from the North and South poles. Energy released in this fashion excites atoms of nitrogen and oxygen, which in turn emit pulses of colored light. These formations are called an aurora. The aurora borealis, which are visible in Alaska, are a result of this sort of space storm.

Orbital mechanics is the application of ballistic and celestial mechanics to motion, especially pertaining to rockets and spacecraft. Many famous physicists and mathematicians have helped develop equations, formulas, and laws to understand different aspects of orbital mechanics; such as Newton with centripetal force and the gravitational constant (GM) and also Kepler and his three laws of planetary motion. Though my interest did not sprout from who was involved with orbital mechanics, but the orbital mechanics themselves. I’ve always had an interest in astronomy and physics, and this seems like the perfect combinations of both.

After the U-2 incident of 1960, more emphasis was placed on safer methods of acquiring reconnaissance imagery. The first photographic reconnaissance satellite program was the codenamed Discovery. These first satellites could see objects as small as 35-40 feet and once they ejected their film capsule, the satellites were forced to reenter and burn up in the atmosphere. The latest declassified satellite is from the late 1970s and can focus on objects as small as 5.5 inches. Instead of using a film canister, the KH-11 series of satellites uses a digital sensor and communications satellites. Because of the classified nature of these satellites, little is known about the latest generations of satellites. However, from what the public does