• Since most planets and satellites have a near circular orbit, the gravitational force?FG?between the sun or another planet provides the?centripetal force?needed to stay in an orbit
  • Both the gravitational force and centripetal force are?perpendicular?to the direction of travel of the planet
• Consider a satellite with mass?m?orbiting Earth with mass?M?at a distance?r?from the centre travelling with linear speed?v

FG?=?Fcirc

• Equating the gravitational force to the centripetal force for a planet or satellite in orbit gives:
• Where:
  • v?= linear speed of the mass in orbit (m s-1)
  • G?=?Newton's Gravitational Constant
  • M?= mass of the object being orbited (kg)
  • r?= orbital radius (m)

• This means that all satellites,?whatever their mass, will travel at the same speed?v?in a particular orbit radius?r
  • Since the direction of a planet orbiting in circular motion is constantly changing, the?centripetal acceleration acts towards the planet

A satellite in orbit around the Earth travels in circular motion

Time Period & Orbital Radius Relation

• Since a planet or a satellite is travelling in circular motion when in order, its orbital time period?T?to travel the circumference of the orbit 2πr, the linear speed?v is:Graphical Representation of T2?∝ r3

• The relationship between?T?and?r?can be shown using a logarithmic plot
  • T2?∝ r3
  • 2 × log(T)?∝ 3 × log(r)
• The graph of log(T) in years against log(r) in AU (astronomical units) for the planets in our solar system is a straight line graph:

• The graph does not go through the origin since it has a negative y-intercept
• Only the log of both?T?and?r?will produce a straight line graph

Energy of an Orbiting Satellite

• An orbiting satellite follows a circular path around a planet
• Just like an object moving in circular motion, it has both kinetic energy (KE)?and?gravitational potential energy (GPE) and its?total?energy is always?constant
• An orbiting satellite's total energy is calculated by:

A graph showing the kinetic, potential and total energy for a mass at varying orbital distances from a massive body

Total energy = Kinetic energy + Gravitational potential energy

• This means that the satellite's KE and GPE are also both constant in a particular orbit
  • If the orbital radius of a satellite?decreases?its KE?increases?and its GPE?decreases
  • If the orbital radius of a satellite?increases?its KE?decreases?and its GPE?increases

At orbit Y, the satellite has greater GPE and less KE than at at orbit X

• A satellite is placed in two orbits,?X and Y, around Earth
• At orbit X, where the radius of orbit?r?is smaller, the satellite has a:
  • Larger gravitational force on it
  • Higher speed
  • Higher KE
  • Lower GPE
  • Shorter orbital?time period,?T
• At orbit Y, where the radius of orbit?r?is larger, the satellite has a:
  • Smaller gravitational force on it
  • Smaller speed
  • Lower KE
  • Higher GPE
  • Longer orbital time period,?T

ANSWER:? ? D

• • Since B is at a larger orbital radius (3R?instead of?R) it has a longer time period since?T2?∝ R3?for an orbiting satellite
  • However, satellite B will travel much slower than A
  • Its larger orbital radius means the force of gravity will be much lower for B than for A

• A synchronous orbit is:

When an orbiting body has a time period equal to that of the body being orbited and in the same direction of rotation as that body

• These usually refer to?satellites?(the orbiting body) around?planets?(the body being orbited)
• The orbit of a synchronous satellite can be above any point on the planet's surface and in any plane
  • When the plane of the orbit is directly above the equator, it is known as a?geosynchronous?orbit

Geostationary Orbit

• Many communication satellites around Earth follow a?geostationary orbit
  • This is sometimes referred to as a?geosynchronous?orbit
• This is a specific type of orbit in which the satellite:
  • Remains directly?above the equator
  • Is in the?plane of the equator
  • Always orbits at the?same point?above the Earth’s surface
  • Moves from?west to east?(same direction as the Earth spins)
  • Has an orbital time period equal to Earth’s rotational period of?24 hours

• Geostationary satellites are used for?telecommunication?transmissions (e.g. radio) and television broadcast
• A base station on Earth sends the TV signal up to the satellite where it is amplified and broadcast back to the ground to the desired locations
• The satellite receiver dishes on the surface must point towards the same point in the sky
  • Since the geostationary orbits of the satellites are fixed, the receiver dishes can be fixed too

Low Orbits

• Some satellites are in low orbits, which means their altitude is closer to the Earth's surface
• One example of this is a?polar?orbit, where the satellite orbits around the north and south pole of the Earth
• Low orbits are useful for taking high-quality photographs of the Earth's surface. This could be used for:
  • Weather
  • Military applications

Geostationary satellite in orbit

Orbital Motion

• When a satellite is moving in orbital motion, the velocity of the satellite will be given by:
• Where
  • ET?= The total energy of the satellite (J)
  • EP?= The potential energy of the satellite (J)
  • EK?= The kinetic energy of the satellite (J)
  • v?= the velocity of the satellite (m s-1)
  • M = mass of the Earth (or large body being orbited) (kg)
  • m = mass of satellite or orbiting object (kg)
  • G?= ?The gravitational constant?=?6.67 x 10-11?Nm2kg-2
  • r?= the orbital radius of the satellite (m)