In space gravity supplies the centripetal force that causes satellites like the moon to orbit larger bodies like the earth.
What is approximately the velocity of a satellite in circular leo orbit around the earth.
Most of the manmade objects in outer space are in leo.
An earth orbiting satellite s motion is mostly controlled by earth s gravity.
There is a large variety of other sources that define leo in terms of.
Thanks to physics if you know the mass and altitude of a satellite in orbit around the earth you can calculate how quickly it needs to travel to maintain that orbit.
For an object in an eccentric orbit orbiting a much larger body the length of the orbit decreases with orbital eccentricity e and is an ellipse.
Then the time period of a spy satellite orbiting a few hundred km above the earth s surface r e a r t h 6 4 0 0 k m will approximately be.
For example an iridium satellite flies at approximately 17 000 mph completing an orbit every 100 minutes compared to a geo satellite that typically flies around 7 000 mph.
My results are slightly different a bit high on orbital altitude and a bit low on velocity.
As satellites get closer to earth the pull of gravity gets stronger and the satellite moves more quickly.
Spreadsheet uses 6 674e 11 m3 kg sec2 5 972e 24 kg 6437e 06 m.
Medium earth orbit or meo satellites are a bit of a middle ground between leo and geo orbits circling the planet at an altitude of 8 000 miles.
A low earth orbit leo is an earth centred orbit with an altitude of 2 000 km 1 200 mi or less approximately one third of the radius of earth or with at least 11 25 periods per day an orbital period of 128 minutes or less and an eccentricity less than 0 25.
Suspect the difference may be the result of different values used for g m earth and radius earth.
Then the time period of satellite orbiting 2600 km above the earth s surface r earth 6400 km will appoximetely be.
A geostationary satellite orbits around the earth in a circular orbit of radius 3600 km.
These satellites handle high speed telephone signals and may in the future find a place in the military sector as a tool to provide low latency high bandwidth internet to military personnel around.
Unlike geo satellites leo satellites also fly at a much faster pace because of their proximity to earth.
Where m is the greater mass around which this negligible mass or body is orbiting and v e is the escape velocity.
By steven holzner.
A geostationary satellite orbits around the earth in a circular orbit of radius 3 6 0 0 0 km.
