SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -The GPS satellites are not in a geostationary orbit, but rise and set two times per day. Each satellite broadcasts radio waves towards Earth that contain information regarding its position and time.

Detailed explanation-2: -GPS satellites fly in circular orbits at an altitude of 10, 900 nautical miles (20, 200 km) and with a period of 12 hours. The orbits are tilted to the earth’s equator by 55 degrees to ensure coverage of polar regions.

Detailed explanation-3: -GPS satellites fly in medium Earth orbit (MEO) at an altitude of approximately 20, 200 km (12, 550 miles). Each satellite circles the Earth twice a day.

Detailed explanation-4: -Communications satellites are often placed in a geostationary orbit so that Earth-based satellite antennas do not have to rotate to track them but can be pointed permanently at the position in the sky where the satellites are located.

Detailed explanation-5: -Combined time dilation effects Hence the satellites’ clocks gain approximately 38, 640 nanoseconds a day or 38.6 s per day due to relativistic effects in total. In order to compensate for this gain, a GPS clock’s frequency needs to be slowed by the fraction: 5.307×10−10 – 8.349×10−11 = 4.472×10.

Detailed explanation-6: -At 3.874 kilometers per second, the clocks in the GPS satellites are traveling at great speed, and that makes the clocks on the satellites appear to run slower than the clocks on earth by about 7 microseconds a day.