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Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

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18 views

Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

Uploaded by

gokaraju421
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Low Earth orbit (LEO)

Main article: Low Earth orbit


Low Earth orbit

A low Earth orbit (LEO) typically is a circular orbit about 160 to 2,000 kilometres (99 to
1,243 mi) above the Earth's surface and, correspondingly, a period (time to revolve
around the Earth) of about 90 minutes.[29]

Because of their low altitude, these satellites are only visible from within a radius of
roughly 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) from the sub-satellite point. In addition, satellites in
low Earth orbit change their position relative to the ground position quickly. So even for
local applications, many satellites are needed if the mission requires uninterrupted
connectivity.

Low-Earth-orbiting satellites are less expensive to launch into orbit than geostationary
satellites and, due to proximity to the ground, do not require as high signal strength
(signal strength falls off as the square of the distance from the source, so the effect is
considerable). Thus there is a trade off between the number of satellites and their cost.

In addition, there are important differences in the onboard and ground equipment
needed to support the two types of missions.

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