How do they put satellites into orbit? I mean, you can't just put satellites anywhere in space?

Answer 1

The trick when launching a satellite is to get it high enough to do its job without losing the capsule to outer space. It's a delicate balance of push and pull, accomplished by the inertia of the moving object and the Earth's gravity. If you launch a satellite at 17,000 mph, the forward momentum will balance gravity, and it will circle the earth. On the other hand, if the satellite is launched faster then 23,500 mph, it will leave the gravitational pull of the Earth.

Why does a satellite stay in orbit?

Due to the balance of two factors:

velocity, or the speed at which it would travel in a straight line, and
the gravitational pull between the Earth and the satellite.
To illustrate this principle, attach a small weight or a ball to a string and swing it around in a circle. If the string were to break, the ball would fly off in a straight line but because it is tethered (like gravity tethers a satellite), it orbits you.


Imagine that you could climb an imaginary mountain whose summit pokes above the Earth's atmosphere (It would be about ten times higher than Mt. Everest). If you threw a baseball from the mountain top, it would fall to the ground in a curving path. Two motions act upon it: trying to go in a straight line and falling toward Earth. The faster you throw the ball, the farther it will go before it hits the ground. If you could throw the ball at a speed of 17,000 mph, the ball wouldn't reach the ground. It would circle the Earth in a curved path; it would be in orbit. (It would be traveling at 5 miles per second and take about ten minutes to cross the United States.) This is the speed needed to put satellites into orbit, which is why the Space Shuttle and other satellites require such powerful boosters.

Answer 2

Any object launched into space with a velocity of at least 17,500 mph parallel to the surface of the earth will orbit. If you are thinking about orbiting something, you get to pick:
- The inclination of the plane of the orbit to the Equator.
- The maximum and minimum altitiudes of the orbit; these will define the orbital period.
These numbers can be crunched to tell you how to aim the rockets to launch your satellite.

Answer 3

By definition a satellite is an object orbiting another body in space. so no you cannot put a satellite anywhere. If you put it anywhere else it is a piece of electronics on the ground or a space probe.

Answer 4

Use a rocket, possible with more than one stage, to get the satelite going fast enough that it can orbit. The satelite does have to orbit; it can't simply stay in one place (although satelites that take 24 hours to orbit will look like they are fixed in the sky). The only real difficulty is selecting the orbit (make sure it doesn't hit any other satelites) and getting it up there and moving the right speed.

Answer 5

NASA has been defunded for a protracted time by way of fact technologies and technological know-how is seen a "waste of money" via many people who're now busy attempting to discover their workplace's identity-Ten-Tee variety. In a technological society, you may think of that greater human beings might understand that the subsequent huge component that makes for a greater rich destiny is investment in technological know-how, no longer a pile of paper representing a pile of gold that's only a small fraction of the paper volume which you won't be ready to truly get from the business enterprise theoretically backing the paper with gold.

Answer 6

With careful planning. See source.