UNIT

3
ORBITS AND PLATFORMS
LAWS RELATED TO MOTIONS OF PLANETS
AND SATELLITES
• Newton’s law of universal gravitation
• Kepler’s first law
• Kepler’s second law
• Kepler’s third law
 Newton’s law of universal gravitation

Every object in the universe attracts every other particle or

object with a force which is directly proportional to the product
of the masses and inversely proportional to the square of the
distance between them.
 KEPLER’S FIRST
LAW

The orbit of planet is an ellipse with sun at one of the foci .

 KEPLER’S SECOND
LAW
The line joining the planet and sun sweep equal areas in equal interval of time.

It reveals that a line drawn between the two bodies will sweep out the same
amount of area during the same time period any where along the orbital
path and hence the velocity of the planet changes with orbital radius.
 KEPLER’S THIRD
LAW
The square of a planet's orbital period is proportional to the cube of the
length of the semi-major axis of its orbit.

T2 𝖺 R3

4π 2 R 3
T2 =
GM

Where G = Universal gravitational constant = 6.6726 x 10 -11 N

m2 / Kg2 R = Satellite mean orbit radius from the
centre of central planet M = Mass of central planet ( for earth
M = 5.98 x 10 24 Kg
It is important to recognise that Kepler’s
laws were derived empirically by
observing motion. Yet no one had come
up with fundamental explanation as to
why the planets are following particular
path around the sun.
GRAVITATIONAL FIELD AND
POTENTIAL
• Earth has gravitational field around it and it attracts all the objects
towards its centre.
• The attractive force offered by earth’s gravitational field on any object
is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the
centre of earth and centre of object.
• The potential of gravitational field is more at lesser heights and it
decreases with increase in height.
• Therefore satellites at lesser heights are more influenced by earth’s
gravitational field and vice-versa.
 How satellite moves in
circular
•The satellite is carried by thepath?
rocket to the required height and launched in the
space.
•The rocket is pushing the satellite in the space with the desired initial velocity.
•Since there is no frictional resistance in the space, the satellite will try to travel with
the same pushing velocity in the pushed direction without any tractive force with
fuel.
•At the same time, earth’s gravitational force will try to attract the satellite towards
the centre of earth.
•The satellite pushed direction and direction of earth’s gravitational attraction are
mutually perpendicular to each other and the resultant direction will be in between
these two directions. Hence the direction of satellite changes.
•At every moment, this change in direction for the satellite takes place and in all the
moments, the direction of earth’s gravitational attraction is towards the centre of
earth only. Hence the resultant direction of satellite is a circular path around the
earth.
 CRITICAL VELOCITY AND ESCAPE VELOCITY
•When aOF SATELLITES
satellite is moving around the earth in circular path, it is likely to be
subjected to two forces.
(i) Centripetal force which attracts the satellite towards the centre of earth due to
gravitational force
(i) Centrifugal force which pushes the satellite away from the circular path
•These two forces acting on the satellite must be equal for the satellite to move
without the influence of any one force.
•if centrifugal force dominates, then the satellite may move way from the earth
continuously.
• if centripetal force dominates, then the satellite may fall on the earth.
•The velocity of satellite at which centrifugal force acting on satellite and centripetal
force acting on satellite due to earth’s gravitational attraction are equal is called as
critical velocity.
•When the velocity of satellite is more than critical velocity, the satellite may move
way from the earth continuously and is called as escape velocity.
 SATELLITE
ORBIT
The path traced by the satellite during its
movement around the planet is called as satellite orbit.
 ORBITAL
ELEMEMTS
To completely describe the shape and orientation of an orbit
around the earth, the following six elements must be specified.
1. True anomaly
2. Equatorial (reference) plane
3. Orbit plane
4. Line of nodes
5. Perigee direction
6. Vernal equinox
1. True
anomaly:
Satellite position at a particular time or location within the orbit can be
described by true anomaly. It is a time since perigee passage.
2. Equatorial (reference)
plane
It is the plane where equator lies.
3. Orbit
plane:
• It is the plane where orbit lies.
• Orientation of orbit plane is described by the inclination orbit plane
with reference plane.
4. Line of
nodes:
• It is the line formed by the intersection of reference plane and orbital
plane.
• It is the line joining the ascending node and descending node in the
reference plane.
• Ascending node is the point where the orbit intersects the reference
plane while the satellite ascends.
• Descending node is the point where the orbit intersects the reference
plane while the satellite descends.
5. Perigee
direction:
• Perigee direction describes the orientation of the elliptically shaped
orbit within the orbital plane.
• It is measured as the angle from the line of nodes to the radius of
perigee of the orbit.
6. Vernal
equinox
• It is the direction of orbit at which day and night are equal.
 TYPES OF
a) Low earth orbit ORBITS
b) Geosynchronous orbit
c) Geostationary orbit
d) Sun synchronous orbit
e) Polar orbit
f) Legrange orbit
g) Constellations
a) Low Earth Orbit
• There is no specified cut-off altitude, but as the name implies LEO
(LEO)
represent orbits which come relatively close to the surface of the
planet.
• LEO’s are characterised by short orbital periods, many revolutions per
day, high orbital velocities and limited swath areas on the earth
surface.
• The commonly accepted definition for LEO is between 160 km and
2000 km above the earth surface.
b) Geosynchronous
orbit
• Any orbit with orbital period exactly equal to one sidereal day is
called geosynchronous orbit.
• One sidereal day is the time taken by earth to rotate about its own
axis ( 23 hours 56 minutes 4.09 seconds).
• This orbit is achieved by placing satellite at an altitude of
approximately 35790 km.
• At approximately 35790 km altitude, satellite revolves in synchrony
with the earth from west to east at an angular velocity equal to
earth’s rotation rate.
• The satellite kept in geosynchronous orbit is called as geosynchronous
satellite.
c) Geostationary
orbit
• It is a geosynchronous orbit kept exactly over equator.
• When the satellite is kept exactly over the equator or near the
equator, there is a constant force of gravity from all directions and
hence orbit will not get tilted.
• A satellite kept in geostationary orbit will look the same area on the
earth surface always.
• At approximately 35790 km altitude, satellite can cover almost nearly
half of earth surface.
• Hence this orbit is suitable for communication satellites.
• The satellite kept in geostationary orbit is called as
geostationary satellite.
d) Sun synchronous
orbit
• It is an orbit in which movement of the satellite is synchronised with
solar illumination level. In this orbit, satellite revisits the same place
in the same timing of a day.
• The satellite which revisits the same area with the same solar
illumination level is called as sun synchronous satellite.
• The line joining earth and sun is rotated by 360° in 365.25 days
automatically. If the line joining satellite and sun is also made to
rotate by the same amount, then sun sychronisation can be achieved.
• Consider position ‘A’ of the earth shown in figure. Sun light is falling on
front side only. Hence front side is day time and rear side is night time. The
satellite is crossing the earth in night time.
• After 3 months, the earth would have turned by 90° and we get the
position ‘B’ as shown in figure. The satellite orbit direction is same as that
of in position ‘A’. Now the satellite crosses half of earth during day time
and remaining during night time.
• After 6 months, the earth would have turned by 180° and we get the
position ‘C’ as shown in figure. The satellite orbit direction is same as that
of in position ‘A’. Now the satellite crosses half of earth completely during
day time.
• After 9 months, the earth would have turned by 270° and we get the
position ‘D’ as shown in figure. The satellite orbit direction is same as that
of in position ‘A’. Hence now the satellite crosses half of earth during night
time and remaining during day time.
• Every day earth is rotated by 0.9856° (360° /365.25 days = 0.9856°
per day).
• But if the direction of satellite orbit remains the same (as shown in
figure), then solar illumination level may vary for the same area
whenever the satellite revisits.
• If satellite orbital plane is also made to rotate by 0.9856° per day,
then solar illumination level will not vary for the same area whenever
the satellite revisits.
• If imbalance of earth mass is maintained on either of orbital plane,
then more mass will attract the orbital plane towards it and rotation
of orbit will occur.
• Required rate of rotation for satellite orbital plane (i.e., 0.9856° per
day) can be achieved naturally by adjusting the inclination of orbital
plane and altitude of satellite (radius of orbit).
e) Polar
orbit
• These are orbits with an inclination of 90° which would pass over the
earth’s poles.
• Here orbital plane is fixed and the earth rotates continuously.
• If the orbital period is a multiple of sidereal day, all the areas of the
globe will pass beneath the orbitting satellite to pass over the same
point at the same timing at regular intervals.
f) Lagrange
orbit
• A Lagrange point a location in space where the combined
gravitational
is forces of two large bodies, such as earth and the sun or
earth and the moon, equal the centrifugal force felt by a much
smaller third body. The interaction of the forces creates a point of
equilibrium where a spacecraft may be parked to make space
observation.
• The orbit passing through Lagrange points in the space is called as
Lagrange orbit.
g)
Constellation
• It is a series of two or more satellites purposely placed into mutually
ssupporting orbits.
• The satellites may be placed within the same orbital plane or different
orbital planes to compensate the movement of the observation area
due to the rotation of earth.
 ORBITAL PERTURBATIONS AND
MANEUVERS
• Satellites are launched and made to move in a planned orbit.
• Some of the forces acting on a satellite in a space may cause the
variations in orbital elements and move the satellite away from the
planned orbit. These variations in orbital elements are called as
orbital perturbations.
• Orbital elements are corrected periodically from the ground control
station through remote control system. Through remote control
system, velocity or altitude of the satellite can be increased or
decreased in addition to orbital elements.
 Causes of orbital
(i) perturbations
Third-Body Perturbations
The gravitational forces of the sun and moon cause periodic
variations in orbital elements.
(II) Perturbations due to Non-spherical earth
While developing the equations of motion, earth is assumed as
spherically symmetrical and homogeneous mass. In fact, earth is
neither symmetrical or homogeneous. It is not truly spherical also.
It is bulged in the equator and flattened in the poles. Hence the
orbit as per equations could not be achieved practically and orbital
elements may vary from theoretical calculations.
Causes of orbital perturbations
(Contd…)
(iii) Perturbations from Atmospheric Drag
• Drag is the resistance offered by a gas or liquid molecule to a
body moving through it.
• A spacecraft is subjected to drag forces when moving through a
planet’s atmosphere. These drag forces may cause variations in
orbital elements.
(iv) Perturbations from Solar Radiation
Solar radiation pressure causes periodic variations in all of the
orbital elements.
 REMOTE SENSING
PLATFORMS
Three different types of platforms are essentially used to mount the
remote sensors. They are
1. Ground observation platform
2. Airborne observation platform
3. Space-borne observation platform
1. Ground observation
platform
• This platform is necessary to develop scientific understanding on the
signal-object and signal-sensor interactions.
• Important ground platforms include hand held platform
(photographic camera, sperctro-radiometer etc), towers and masts
mounted on vehicles.
• Ground based platforms are used for checking the functioning of
sensors and collecting spectral reflectance values at site for preparing
spectral signature or training data.
2. Airborne observation
platform
• Airborne observation platforms are important to
performance of the sensors before they are flown in
test the
the space-
stability
borne platform.
• Important airborne observation platforms include balloons, drones, aircraft
and high altitude sounding rockets.
• Balloons filled with helium gas can reach a height upto around 40 km.
Balloons are used for aerial photography also.
• Drones is a remotely controlled miniature aircraft which can be operated at
an altitude of around 0.5 km with a forward speed of around 100 km/hr.
• Aircrafts can fly upto an altitude of 15 km and can be used for verifying the
functioning of remote sensor at this height and also for aerial photography.
• High altitude sounding rocket can reach upto an altitude of 400 km and can
be used for verifying the functioning of remote sensor at different
altitudes.
3. Space-borne observation
platform
• These are satellite platforms.
• There are two types of satellite platforms namely manned satellite
platform and unmanned satellite platform.
• Manned satellite platforms are used as the last step for rigorous
testing of the remote sensors on board so that they can be finally
incorporated in the unmanned satellites.
• Unmanned satellite platforms are used for remote sensing
applications and communication purposes.
CLASSIFICATION OF
•Geosynchronous satellites
SATELLITES
•Geostationary satellites
(used for communication purposes)
•Sun-synchronous satellites
(used for earth remote sensing applications)

Hint:
All geostationary satellites are geosynchronous satellites,
but all geosynchronous satellites are not geostationary
satellites.