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Satellites Orbit facts

While investigating facts about Satellites Orbiting Earth and Satellites Orbiting Mars, I found out little known, but curios details like:

A Canadian inventor tried to create a “supergun” which could fire satellites into orbit from a 512 foot-long barrel embedded inside a hill. When Western funding failed, he turned to military application of his ideas for Saddam Hussein, but then he was assassinated in Brussels.

how satellites orbit the earth?

The McDonnell Douglas F-15 can reach 30,000 ft (9,100m) in 60 seconds and has a thrust-to-weight ratio that allows the aircraft to accelerate while flying straight up. It is also the only aircraft to ever shoot down a satellite orbiting in space.

What satellites orbit the moon?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what satellites orbit jupiter. Here are 50 of the best facts about Satellites Orbiting The Moon and Satellites Orbiting Earth Right Now I managed to collect.

what satellites orbit earth?

  1. In 2007 China tested a missile and shot down one of their own satellites, accidentally creating 2,087 pieces of space debris on crazy orbits, all of which are now required to be tracked to avoid space collisions

  2. In 1965, two astronauts in orbit reported: "We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, probably in polar orbit...I see a command module and eight smaller modules in front. The pilot of the command module is wearing a red suit."

  3. There is a satellite orbiting Earth that is predicted to re-enter the atmosphere in 8.4 million years, carrying a message addressed to the beings/humans and civilizations of the future.

  4. The United States accidentally destroyed Britain's first satellite after detonating a nuclear bomb in orbit.

  5. About Apophis (Egyptian god of death and darkness), an asteroid that will pass earth closer than our own satellites orbit on Friday 13th, 2029. It will touch our atmosphere, and we will be able to see it wiz overhead. There is a debated chance of it impacting Earth when it returns in 2036.

  6. Maj. Gen. Doug Pearson became the only "space ace" when he shot down a satellite orbiting at 345 miles while piloting an F-15 on Sept. 13, 1985.

  7. There are more than 500,000 pieces of debris floating or orbiting around Earth now. Most of them originated as parts of satellites and rockets.

  8. There are currently 4,256 satellites currently orbiting the planet as of 2016, but only 1,419 are operational

  9. The Milky Way has several "satellite galaxies", smaller galaxies that orbit our galaxy like moons to a planet.

  10. In 8 million years the LAGEOS satellite orbit will decay, and it will re-enter Earth's atmosphere, carrying with them a message to any far future descendants of humanity, and a map of the continents as they are expected to appear then.

satellites orbit facts
What satellites orbit the sun?

Satellites Orbit data charts

For your convenience take a look at Satellites Orbit figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.

satellites orbit fact data chart about Tiangong-1 Satellite Orbit Decay (last 24 hours)
Tiangong-1 Satellite Orbit Decay (last 24 hours)

satellites orbit fact data chart about Optimal Low-Earth-Orbit Satellite Intercept
Optimal Low-Earth-Orbit Satellite Intercept

Why do satellites stay in orbit?

You can easily fact check why don't satellites in orbit fall to the ground by examining the linked well-known sources.

There are over 40 dangerous radioactive satellites in orbit of Earth. One - Kosmos 954 - already crashed in Canada in 1978 spreading radiation over 600km, eventually leaking into the US

In 1985 an F-15 fighter jet successfully shot down a satellite with a missile; by 1998, there were still 8 trackable pieces in orbit - source

Digital cameras were developed so spy satellites could send images back to earth more quickly. Before digital cameras in 1976, spy satellites used film. After the film was shot, the satellites loaded the footage into capsules and dropped them from orbit into the atmosphere for collection. - source

The magnitude 9.0 great earthquake that struck Japan on 11 March 2011 "was so powerful that its rumble was 'heard' from space. Scientists in France and the Netherlands have found that sound waves from the quake reached as far as an orbiting satellite [GOCE], 260 kilometres [161.6 miles] above."

There's a satellite in orbit that's running a Nexus 1 Android as one of its main CPU's - source

When are orbiting satellites most at risk?

The F-15 Fighter Jet Was Capable of Shooting Down Satellites in Orbit.

How satellites orbit around the earth?

Scientists are working on plans to equip the International Space Station with a laser cannon to zap space debris in an effort to clean up the 3,000 tons of discarded satellites and other garbage in orbit

On Friday the 13th of April in 2029, an asteroid named Apophis (Egyptian god of death and darkness), which is the size of the Rose Bowl, will pass Earth at a distance that is closer than our orbiting communication satellites.

Earth's only natural satellite has no other name and is simply called "the Moon" because people didn't know other moons existed until Galileo Galilei discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610.

There are 23,000 cataloged objects orbiting Earth in space, with the majority (14,950) produced by a Chinese anti-satellite test. A collision with even the tiniest of these fragments can be disastrous to any spacecraft.

The three rings around the Unisphere, constructed in Queens, NY for the 1964 World's Fair, represented the orbital flights of Yuri Garagrin, the first man in space, John Glenn, the first American in space and Telestar, the first active communications satellite.

Satellites orbit infographics

Beautiful visual representation of Satellites Orbit numbers and stats to get perspecive of the whole story.

satellites orbit fact infographic about The altitude of all active satellites in low Earth orbit und

The altitude of all active satellites in low Earth orbit under 1000 km on 30 Apr 2018


satellites orbit fact infographic about Date of Launch, Perigee und Purpose of satellites currently

Date of Launch, Perigee und Purpose of satellites currently orbiting earth


When do satellites stay in orbit?

Nigeria has a space program and has successfully launched several satellites into orbit.

In 1985, the US Military successfully shot down a satellite orbiting earth with an F15 fighter jet.

The design of the Space Shuttle was influenced by the United States Air Force, which wanted the ability to snatch Soviet spy satellites out of orbit.

Due to their high speed and position in orbit, GPS satellites must take into account Einstein's theories of general relativity and special relativity, which together determine that a time dilation of +38 microseconds occurs. This needs to be corrected for in order to maintain GPS accuracy.

NASA conceived of a plan to launch spacecraft out of a hole in the top of a mountain. The combination of a rocket sled, combined with the thin atmosphere could have led to a quick insertion for low orbit satellites.

How satellites orbit in space?

An amateur astronomer was able to take detailed pictures of a secret military KH-12 spy satellite in orbit - from his backyard

Earth has about 3600 man made satellites in orbit and about 1000 of those are operational (as of 2013)

Earth has one large natural satellite, known as the Moon and sometimes referred to as Luna. It probably was formed when a large body about the size of Mars collided with Earth, ejecting a lot of material from our planet into orbit and formed the Moon approximately 4.5 billion years ago.

The Black Knight satellite conspiracy theory. This conspiracy theory claims that there is a spacecraft in near-polar orbit of the Earth that is of extraterrestrial origin, and that NASA is engaged in a cover-up regarding its existence and origin.

The Milky way has a number of small "Satellite Galaxies" that orbit us.

There are 2 satellites in orbit around the earth chasing each other. NASA has them tracking gravitational anomalies. NASA nicknamed them Tom & Jerry.

The first nuclear powered satellite in space failed after just 43 days and it will stay in orbit for 3-4000 years. There are also more than 30 Russian nuclear powered satellites in space currently.

Satellites move very fast, at roughly 18,000 miles an hour, which allows them to orbit the earth 14 times a day.

There are over 4,200 man-made satellites currently in orbit around earth, but only around 1 in 4 still work.

Satellite Lageos 1 that is currently orbiting Earth and expected to come back down in 8 million years. It contains a message to whomever might live on the planet then and maps of the Earth from 3 different eras - 268 million years in the past, present day, and 8 million years in the future.

On a gated road past the summit of Haleakala Mountain is the Haleakala Observatory. This is where satellites and other debris that orbits the earth are tracked as part of the Maui Space Surveillance System.

Due to high atmospheric drag in the mesosphere it is not possible for research equipment such as satellites to stay in orbit.

Ganymede orbits Jupiter at a distance of about 665,000 miles (1,070,400 kilometers). It is third among the Galilean satellites and the orbit period is every seven days and three hours.

There's a constellation of 72 active Motorola satellites orbiting the earth to provide voice and data coverage to satellite phones, pagers and integrated transceivers over the Earth's entire surface

The exosphere is perfect for placing satellites as there is very little friction and they are able to orbit fairly easily without being disrupted.

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about Satellites Orbit. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is Satellites Orbit so important!

Editor Veselin Nedev Editor