Tracking polar orbiting satellites

Tracking polar orbiting satellites Today’s Video of the Day from the European Space Agency describes the Svalbard Satellite Station, or SvalSat, which is the northernmost ground satellite station.

Located within the Arctic circle, this remote position is ideal for collecting data from polar orbiting satellites as they pass over. As seen above in the video the Tracking polar orbiting satellites are often used forearth-mapping, earth observation, capturing the earth as time passes from one point, reconnaissance satellites, as well as for some weather satellites. The Iridium satellite constellation also uses a polar orbit to provide telecommunications services

At SvalSat, contact and is made with many of the Earth observation missions, contributing to the ESA’s global tracking station network, Estrack. A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO, also called a heliosynchronous orbit) is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet’s surface at the same local mean solar time. Polar orbit.

A polar orbit is one in which asatellite passes above or nearly above both poles of the body being orbited (therefore a planet such as the Earth, but possibly another body such as the Moon or Sun) on each revolution. It therefore has an inclination of (or very close to) 90 degrees to the body’s equator.

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

Video Credit: European Space Agency