
22 Satellite communications
22.1 Earth orbits
Communications satellites are required to illuminate the earth with
radio signals and their orbits are chosen according to the size and
location of the part of the earth’s surface they must light up.
A satellite orbiting the earth is continuously pulled by a centripetal
force, in this case gravity, towards the centre of the earth. It is also
pulled by centrifugal force to leave its orbit at a tangent. When these
opposing forces are equal in magnitude the satellite is in a stable orbit.
There is, then, for a given height (the radius of the path minus the
radius of the earth, 6378 km), a velocity at which