SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -A satellite designed to take images to monitor the polar ice caps would have an inclination of 35, 75, and 90 degrees. Which orbital parameter must use a reference point in space, because an earth based reference point will move as the earth rotates?

Detailed explanation-2: -Inclination is the angle of the orbit in relation to Earth’s equator. A satellite that orbits directly above the equator has zero inclination. If a satellite orbits from the north pole (geographic, not magnetic) to the south pole, its inclination is 90 degrees.

Detailed explanation-3: -An orbit of a spacecraft that has a high tilted angle from the equator. The Russian space station Mir and the International Space Station (ISS), both at an angle of 51.6°, and NASA’s Hawkeye (Explorer 52), at nearly 90°, all have high-inclination orbits.

Detailed explanation-4: -A spacecraft orbit that has a small inclination. Such spacecraft are normally launched near the Equator, such as NASA’s High-Energy Transient Explorer 2, launched on 9 October 2000 from the Kwajalein Missile Range in the central Pacific Ocean. Satellites in geosynchronous orbits have a low inclination.

Detailed explanation-5: -The majority of satellites orbiting the Earth do so at altitudes between 160 and 2, 000 kilometers. This orbital regime is called low Earth orbit, or LEO, due to the satellites’ relative closeness to the Earth.

Detailed explanation-6: -An inclination of 0 degrees means the spacecraft orbits the planet at its equator, and in the same direction as the planet rotates. An inclination of 90 degrees indicates a polar orbit, in which the spacecraft passes over the north and south poles of the planet.