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How do satellites keep in orbit without being pulled in by gravity?
Satellites are able to orbit around the planet because they are locked into speeds that are fast enough to defeat the downward pull of gravity. A satellite maintains its orbit by balancing two factors: its velocity (the speed it takes to travel in a straight line) and the gravitational pull that Earth has on it.
How does an object stay in orbit above Earth?
How Do Objects Stay in Orbit? An object in motion will stay in motion unless something pushes or pulls on it. An object’s momentum and the force of gravity have to be balanced for an orbit to happen. If the forward momentum of one object is too great, it will speed past and not enter into orbit.
How does gravity keep things in orbit?
Gravity is a very important force. Every object in space exerts a gravitational pull on every other, and so gravity influences the paths taken by everything traveling through space. It is the glue that holds together entire galaxies. It keeps planets in orbit.
How does planet stay in orbit?
The sun’s gravity pulls the planet toward the sun, which changes the straight line of direction into a curve. This keeps the planet moving in an orbit around the sun. Because of the sun’s gravitational pull, all the planets in our solar system orbit around it.
How does a satellite maintain its orbit?
So really, a satellites ability to maintain its orbit comes down to a balance between two factors: its velocity (or the speed at which it would travel in a straight line), and the gravitational pull between the satellite and the planet it orbits.
Why do satellites travel so fast?
This is as true of a natural satellite as it is of an artificial one. From Kepler’s discovery, scientists were also able to infer that the closer a satellite is to an object, the stronger the force of attraction, hence it must travel faster in order to maintain orbit.
What is an elliptical orbit around the Earth?
Whereas the orbits of planets about the Sun and the Moon about the Earth were thought to be perfectly circular, Kepler stumbled onto the concept of elliptical orbits. In order for an object to stay in orbit around the Earth, it must have enough speed to retrace its path. This is as true of a natural satellite as it is of an artificial one.
How do you calculate the distance from the Earth’s center of gravity?
However, that is a specific case at the surface of the planet. When calculating objects in orbit about the Earth, the formula v= (GM/R)1/2 applies, where v is velocity of the satellite, G is the gravitational constant, M is the mass of the planet, and R is the distance from the center of the Earth.