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Satellites

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Satellite communications

Satellites
GPS skew-whiff
Space weather
Launching
satellites
Science Ideas and Concepts
Planet Labs launching worlds largest
satellite
fleet
Artificial satellites
Natural satellites

Teaching and Learning

Artificial satellites

Student Activity - Spotting satellites

Student Activity - Satellite web hunt

Student Activity - Gravity and satellites:

true or false?

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Keeping satellites in orbit

Launching satellites into orbit

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Video:and
What
Satellites
orbitsare satellites?

An artificial satellite is an object that people have made and launched into orbit using rockets. There are
currently over a thousand active satellites orbiting the Earth. The size, altitude and design of a satellite
depend on its purpose.
Sizes and altitudes of satellites

Satellites vary in size. Some cube satellites are as small as 10 cm. Some communication satellites are
about 7 m long and have solar panels that extend another 50 m. The largest artificial satellite is the
International Space Station (ISS). The main part of this is as big as a large five-bedroom house, but
including solar panels, it is as large as a rugby field.
Altitudes of satellites above the Earths surface also vary. These are three common orbits:
Low Earth orbit (LEO) from 200 to 2000 km, for example, the ISS orbits at 400 km with a
speed of 28 000 km/s, and time for one orbit is about 90 minutes.
Medium Earth orbit (MEO) most MEO satellites are at an altitude of 20 000 km, and time for
one orbit is 12 hours.
Geostationary orbit (GEO) 36 000 km above the Earth. Time for one orbit is 24 hours. This is to
match the rotation of the Earth so that the satellite appears to stay above the same point above the
Earths surface. This is used for many communications and weather satellites.
The altitude chosen for a satellite depends on the job it is designed for.
Types of satellites

Interactive: Satellites and orbits

Navigation satellites: The GPS (global positioning system) is made up of 24 satellites that orbit
at an altitude of 20 000 km above the surface of the Earth. The difference in time for signals
received from four satellites is used to calculate the exact location of a GPS receiver on Earth.
Published:

Communication satellites: These are used for television, phone or internet

Object 1

Object 2

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