Why satellites are orbiting but not falling?

Peble Jeine

Jul 19, 2021

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Satellites remain in their orbits because of the gravitational attraction of the earth. Most of the satellites are launched into space on rockets. When a satellite place on its orbits Earth, the speed of the satellite will be balanced by the Earth's gravity. Without this balance, it may return back to Earth or would go into uncontrollable straight path. Satellites orbit Earth at different heights, different speeds and along different paths. That is why the satellite continues to move in an orbit around the earth at the circulated speed.

For an example, take a ball tied by a rope and hold it in the other end. Now rotate the ball with great speed. When you are rotating, the ball is not falling because it is rotating, at the same time the rope is holding the ball. Now imagine, your hand is Earth, the rope is gravitational attraction and the ball is satellite.

The first satellite was launched by Soviet Union in 1957.

Satellites orbiting the Earth

Does the satellite crash?

Yes, but the accidents happen in rare. When a satellite is launched, it is placed into an orbit designed to avoid the collisions with other satellites. But orbits can change over time. And the chances of a crash increase as more and more satellites are launched into space.

In February 2009, two communications satellites, one belongs to United States of America, another one belongs to Russian Federation collided in space. That was the first time two man-made satellites have collided accidentally.

Two types of orbit

There are two types common orbit named "geostationary" and "polar". A geostationary satellite travels from west to east over the equator. It moves in the same direction and at the same rate Earth is spinning. From Earth, a geostationary satellite looks like it is standing still since it is always above the same location.

Polar-orbiting satellites travel in a north-south direction from pole to pole. As Earth spins underneath, these satellites can scan the entire globe, one strip at a time.