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Beginning: How Satellite Works?

We live on this earth and more than half of our work depends on satellite, which would revolve around in the Earth's orbit. The GPS you used to navigate work only because of the satellite, not only this but mobiles phones, TV, Radios all works because of the satellite.

You will be surprised to know that that in our earth orbit, 4994 satellites keep circling the earth, out of which 1100 are active.

But have you think :

Why satellites are placed in different orbits?

How does satellite works?

What are its components?

Stay connected with us till the end of this article. you will get the answers to all these questions.

Before proceeding we should know some general terms.

Satellite: Satellite is an object that has been intentionally placed into orbit. these objects are called an artificial satellite.

Orbit: A curved path taken by a planet or another object as it moves around another planet, Stars, Moon, etc.

International Telecommunication Union (ITU): ITU is an agency of the United Nations (UN) whose purpose is to coordinate telecommunication operations and service through the world.

So let's start our Satellite Journey,

Everyone knows that due to the balance between Gravitation Force and Centrifugal Force, the satellite is stable in the orbit.

The balanced force equation decides the angular velocity of the satellite which balances the gravitation and centrifugal force. When the satellite is deployed in the space, they are given a sufficient speed, so that it can balance two forces.

The Satellite needs more speeds so that it ignores the gravitational pull and continuously revolve in the orbit. the satellite remains at its own speed and moves in the orbit without using any external energy.

There are three orbits of the earth in which satellite are placed.

Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)

Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO)

There is an interesting region between these three orbits, which is called VAN ALLEN BELT.

This region is made up of highly energetic charged particles that damage the electronic section of the satellite. Therefore, Satellites are not placed in this region.

Which Satellite to place in which orbit is dependent on its use. Satellite for Earth observation, Weather forecasting, Geographical Area Surveying, etc is always placed in LEO. It is very close to the earth and its altitude ranges from 160 to 2000 Km. The Satellite in this orbit is able to cover a very small area of the earth surface. therefore, a number of satellite is needed, so that global coverage can be achieved.

In the case of Broadcasting, the orbit is chosen called GEO. the distances between the satellite and the earth in this orbit are 35,786 km. In this orbit, satellite revolves at the same angular speed of the Earth, which means it takes 23 hours 56 minutes 4 seconds for the satellite to orbit the whole earth.

There is a special region inside GEO called Geo - Stationary Belt. The Satellites being placed in this belt keep revolving along with the earth, because of which we do not have to change the TV dish Antenna repeatedly. Television broadcasting satellites are placed in this belt. ITU manages all the satellites in this belt because this region is crowded by satellites.

There are only a few satellites in the GEO because one satellite can cover the 1/3 area of the earth surface, so three satellites are sufficient to cover the entire earth surface.

To access navigation applications, satellites are placed in the MEO, an altitude of this orbit ranges from 2000 to 35,700 km. MEO requires a lot of satellites to cover the entire Earth.

Components of Satellites :

Communication Satellite -

Transponders: A wireless communication device usually attached to a satellite. A Transponder receives and transmits radio signals at a prescribed frequency range. removing noise, changing frequency and amplifying the signals are its functions. the satellite has 20 and above transponders.

It is obvious that transponders require a great deal of electrical power to handle all these functions.

Solar Panels and Batteries: For the power, supply satellite have the option of batteries or solar panels. Solar Panels are required to meet the electricity need but during an eclipse, the batteries are used.

Sun Sensor: The Sun Sensor helps to angle the solar panel in the right direction so that the maximum power can be extracted from the sun.

Reflector Antenna: It helps to concentrate signals so that the transponder can work.

The satellite keeps revolving around the earth in earth's orbit but the gravitational force is not equal at all the parts of the earth because of unequal mass distribution of earth and the presence of Moon and The Sun, because of this sometimes satellite gets displaced from its position, this is a dangerous situation since it will lead to a complete loose of signal to avoid such situation Satellite makes use of Thruster, the thruster is fired to keep the satellite's position stable. These also help satellite to avoid space junk, fuel need for thruster are stored in tank assembled in the satellite body.

The Position of satellite and the control of thruster are continuously monitored from an Earth Station.

When satellite stops their functioning, then it may damage the other satellite. so to avoid damaging satellite are transfer to Grave Yard Orbit with the help of thrusters.

GPS Satellite :

Atomic Clock: Atomic Clock is a clock that uses the resonance frequencies of atoms as its resonator.

for synchronization purposes, atomic clocks are used.

L band Antenna: All GPS signals are in the L -band of the frequency spectrum ( 1 - 2 GHz ). Because L -band waves penetrate clouds, fog, storms, and vegetation, GPS units can receive accurate data in all weather conditions, day or night.

Earth Observation Satellite carries different types of sensor depending on their missions.

All Satellites are covered with Gold Foil what is the purpose of this foil?

Answer: It is not a Foil, it is made up of Polyimide coated with Aluminium, which protects the satellite from temperature variation and radiation of the sun, fall on the Satellite.

Hope you like the article

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How Satellite works?/ what is its components and what are different satellite orbits?-SAMZOO