Question

What are polar satellites?

Answer 1

Hint: Satellites are put into the orbit around earth in two ways. They are either placed so that they orbit earth along the equator of earth or they orbit earth along poles from one pole to another.

Complete Step-by-Step solution:
Objects that revolve around earth in a fixed circular orbit are known satellites. Moon is earth’s natural satellite but there are many man made satellites put into orbit around earth. They are called artificial satellites. There are two types of artificial satellites: Polar satellites and geo-stationary satellites. This classification is based on the type of orbit around earth.
Polar Satellites revolve around Earth from one pole to another. Therefore, their orbit is perpendicular to the equator of Earth. They go around Earth from North to South direction whereas Earth revolves from east to west.
They orbit at low altitudes closer to the surface of Earth at a distance of 500-800 km and take around 100 minutes to complete one revolution around Earth. Due to this short period of revolution, it crosses the same point on Earth multiple times a day.
The motion of satellites is such that it scans the surface of Earth in a series of horizontal strips. The information obtained from these satellites play a crucial role in remote sensing, geological and environmental studies.

Additional Information:
Geo-stationary satellites revolve along the equator of earth. They have the same period of revolution as the earth due which they appear stationary to an observer on Earth.

Note: The name of Polar satellites may suggest that these satellites are fixed at poles. Satellites are never fixed at one position in the orbit. They need to keep moving in order to stay in an orbit.