Polar Orbiting Satellites- Introduction

  • Orbits are sun-synchronous circular orbits that almost pass over the poles.

  • Altitudes of the orbits are much lower than for the Geostationary satellites.  Altitudes are typically at 850 km.

  • Orbital periods are about 98-102 minutes.

  • Hence, each satellite will complete about 14 orbits in one day.