why do satellites orbit in the exosphere?
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Although the atmosphere is very, very thin in the thermosphere and exosphere, there is still enough air to cause a slight amount of drag force on satellites that orbit within these layers.
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The two entrepreneurs separately aim to launch thousands of small satellites to zip around the globe in what's known as low-Earth orbit, or LEO. ... LEO satellites operate from 500 kilometers (311 miles) to 2,000 kilometers above the Earth's surface.
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Most scientific satellites and many weather satellites are in a nearly circular, low Earth orbit. The satellite's inclination depends on what the satellite was launched to monitor.
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All orbits are elliptical, which means they are an ellipse, similar to an oval. For the planets, the orbits are almost circular. ... They are highly eccentric or "squashed." They look more like thin ellipses than circles. Satellites that orbit Earth, including the moon, do not always stay the same distance from Earth.
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Since many satellites orbit within the thermosphere, changes in the density of (the very, very thin) air at orbital altitudes brought on by heating and expansion of the thermosphere generates a drag force on satellites. ... These waves and tides help move energy around within the atmosphere, including the thermosphere.
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… orbits: low Earth orbit (LEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO), and geostationary or geosynchronous orbit (GEO). LEO satellites are positioned at an altitude between 160 km and 1,600 km (100 and 1,000 miles) above Earth. MEO satellites operate from 10,000 to 20,000 km (6,300 to 12,500 miles) from Earth.
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Orbits 'R' Us! ... Satellites can orbit Earth's equator or go over Earth's North and South Poles . . . or anything in between. They orbit at a low altitude of just a few hundred miles above Earth's surface or thousands of miles out in space. The choice of orbit all depends on the satellite's job.
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The thermosphere extends between the altitudes of 85 and 1,000 kilometers (53 and 621 miles). ... Indeed, satellites and the International Space Station orbit the Earth within the thermosphere.
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Most satellites are launched into space on rockets. A satellite orbits Earth when its speed is balanced by the pull of Earth's gravity. Without this balance, the satellite would fly in a straight line off into space or fall back to Earth.
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The Short Answer: Earth's gravity is strong enough to hold onto its atmosphere and keep it from drifting into space.
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Most studies in this area have focused on the inner planets. ... That gas formed individual spinning disks (from which many satellites formed), and most likely it carried a lot of angular momentum as it fell onto the outer planets' cores, causing them to spin faster and faster as they coalesced.
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Orbital velocity is the velocity needed to achieve balance between gravity's pull on the satellite and the inertia of the satellite's motion -- the satellite's tendency to keep going. This is approximately 17,000 mph (27,359 kph) at an altitude of 150 miles (242 kilometers).
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An orbit is a regular, repeating path that one object in space takes around another one. An object in an orbit is called a satellite. A satellite can be natural, like Earth or the moon. Many planets have moons that orbit them.
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A: Satellites and other spacecraft can orbit with the rotation of the Earth, in the opposite direction of Earth's rotation, or in any other direction! Usually satellites orbit in the direction of Earth's rotation, but there are some satellites that travel in the opposite direction.
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The main reason they are in such a high orbit is to allow for more of the Earth to be visible at any one time. In order to have a reasonable amount of the Earth visible, you have to be high up.
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Although the space beyond Earth's atmosphere is vast, human-made satellites are typically located in one of three popular orbital regimes: low Earth orbit (LEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO), and geosynchronous orbit (GEO).
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The exosphere is the outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere (i.e. the upper limit of the atmosphere). It extends from the exobase, which is located at the top of the thermosphere at an altitude of about 700 km above sea level, to about 10,000 km (6,200 mi; 33,000,000 ft) where it merges into the solar wind.