Question

For geostationary satellites,
(A) Time period depends on the mass of the satellite
(B) The orbit radius is independent of the mass of the earth
(C) Time period is equal to that of the rotation of earth about its axis
(D) None of these

Answer 1

Hint: The geostationary satellites are used to observe meteorological situations and help storm development, including hurricanes, tornadoes and floods.


Complete step by step solution
Geostationary satellites are the special type of satellite which is used for the communication purpose and for the observation of the various earth conditions of some areas. The geostationary satellites revolve at very high altitudes of 36000 km from the earth, and they must be on the equatorial plane. The positions of the antennas used in the geostationary satellites are fixed, so adjusting is not necessary. For these types of satellites, high transmission power is required. For communication purposes, they are not useful for small mobiles phones and data transmission. These satellites are very useful for communication like radio communications and TV transmission. The geo stationary satellite required one exactly one day for its one complete rotation.

 The geostationary satellites are a geosynchronous orbit above the earth’s equator. One complete rotation of the satellites occurs in exactly one day, so its time period is almost equal to the rotation of the earth about its axis.

Therefore, option (C) is correct that a time period is equal to that of the rotation of the earth about its axis.


Note: The satellites are known as geostationary because it appears in a stationary condition in the sky when it is seen from the earth surface. The stationary condition occurs due to the same rotational speed of the satellite with the earth.