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International Space Station - why it stays in orbit

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Jon Harris
Jon Harris

The document discusses why satellites' orbits appear wavy when depicted on maps of Earth. Satellites like the International Space Station (ISS) actually follow nearly circular orbits around Earth. However, because maps project the spherical Earth onto a flat surface, the orbital paths become distorted and appear sinusoidal. This is due to limitations of map projections like the Mercator projection, which cannot accurately portray a 3D spherical surface on a 2D map without some distortion.

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Why Do Satellites Orbits Look Like A Sinusoidal Wave On The World Map? The International Space Station
If youve ever seen the footage of an artificial satellites orbit, this is what you would have seen: The yellow lines depict the path of the International Space Station
From the image on the previous slide, its evident that the satellite has a wave-like orbit, but doesnt it look a bit unusual for a satellites path around Earth? It certainly doesnt seem very efficient! The question is, do all artificial satellites, including the ISS, really have such wavy orbits when they circle Earth?
Why the ISS path appears like a wave on the map of the world? ISS, just like any other artificial satellite, follows an (almost) circular path around Earth The reason its orbit looks like a wave is because the orbit is 3-dimensional in nature But when its projected on a 2-D Mercator map of the world, it flattens and appears distorted, so it looks like a sinusoidal wave.
ISS orbit around Earth The International Space Station is a habitable artificial satellite that acts as a manned space station in low Earth orbit It plays hosts to 5-6 astronauts at a time who conduct different kinds of scientific and technological research on-board
ISS orbit around Earth Just like any other artificial satellite, the ISS also circles Earth in a predefined path, called an orbit The ISS orbit is located at an altitude above Earth where it still experiences a strong gravitational pull from Earth
ISS orbit around Earth Contrary to popular belief, its not zero gravity up there In fact, the ISS experiences as much as 90% of the gravity that we experience back here on Earth Its perpetually falling towards the Earth, but thanks to its huge orbital speed (17,200 mph/27,6000 kmph) and Earths rotundity, it never actually hits the surface
ISS orbit around Earth One noteworthy thing about the ISS orbit is that it doesnt coincide with Earths equator Whenever we talk about a satellite revolving around the Earth, we generally tend to visualize its orbit coinciding with the equator, but in reality, the ISS orbit looks more like this:
ISS orbit around Earth Its evident from the picture on the previous slide that the ISS follows a circular path around the planet Still, when the same path is represented on the world map, it undergoes a drastic change to look like this:
The Mercator Projection The maps that we saw in schools when we were kids, the maps shown on TV basically (almost) every world map that we come across is wrong
The Mercator Projection The maps that we saw in schools when we were kids, the maps shown on TV basically (almost) every world map that we come across is wrong
The Mercator Projection Theres actually a good reason behind that You see, our planet is a 3D object, whereas maps are always 2-dimensional In order for us to see and visualize the boundaries of countries and large land masses on the face of the Earth, we need a way to project all that 3- dimensional stuff onto a 2-dimensional piece of paper. Thats exactly what a Mercator map does
A Mercator projection of the world It nicely represents physical features and land masses of the world on a rectangular sheet of paper, where latitudes and longitudes are straight lines that intersect perpendicularly and the shapes of countries are well-defined.
A Mercator projection of the world However, apart from causing certain problems when it comes to the relative sizes of countries, the Mercator projection also distorts the path of the ISS on the world map
Projecting the ISS orbit looks like a wave on a 2-D map The ISS orbit looks way because its path is aligned with the equator of our planet on a 2-D world map (for our visual convenience) The path of the ISS (and other artificial satellites) appears like a wave because its projected onto a 2- D screen, and not because artificial satellites follow a wavy path around Earth
International Space Station - why it stays in orbit
International Space Station - why it stays in orbit

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International Space Station - why it stays in orbit

  • 1. Why Do Satellites Orbits Look Like A Sinusoidal Wave On The World Map? The International Space Station
  • 2. If youve ever seen the footage of an artificial satellites orbit, this is what you would have seen: The yellow lines depict the path of the International Space Station
  • 3. From the image on the previous slide, its evident that the satellite has a wave-like orbit, but doesnt it look a bit unusual for a satellites path around Earth? It certainly doesnt seem very efficient! The question is, do all artificial satellites, including the ISS, really have such wavy orbits when they circle Earth?
  • 4. Why the ISS path appears like a wave on the map of the world? ISS, just like any other artificial satellite, follows an (almost) circular path around Earth The reason its orbit looks like a wave is because the orbit is 3-dimensional in nature But when its projected on a 2-D Mercator map of the world, it flattens and appears distorted, so it looks like a sinusoidal wave.
  • 5. ISS orbit around Earth The International Space Station is a habitable artificial satellite that acts as a manned space station in low Earth orbit It plays hosts to 5-6 astronauts at a time who conduct different kinds of scientific and technological research on-board
  • 6. ISS orbit around Earth Just like any other artificial satellite, the ISS also circles Earth in a predefined path, called an orbit The ISS orbit is located at an altitude above Earth where it still experiences a strong gravitational pull from Earth
  • 7. ISS orbit around Earth Contrary to popular belief, its not zero gravity up there In fact, the ISS experiences as much as 90% of the gravity that we experience back here on Earth Its perpetually falling towards the Earth, but thanks to its huge orbital speed (17,200 mph/27,6000 kmph) and Earths rotundity, it never actually hits the surface
  • 8. ISS orbit around Earth One noteworthy thing about the ISS orbit is that it doesnt coincide with Earths equator Whenever we talk about a satellite revolving around the Earth, we generally tend to visualize its orbit coinciding with the equator, but in reality, the ISS orbit looks more like this:
  • 9. ISS orbit around Earth Its evident from the picture on the previous slide that the ISS follows a circular path around the planet Still, when the same path is represented on the world map, it undergoes a drastic change to look like this:
  • 10. The Mercator Projection The maps that we saw in schools when we were kids, the maps shown on TV basically (almost) every world map that we come across is wrong
  • 11. The Mercator Projection The maps that we saw in schools when we were kids, the maps shown on TV basically (almost) every world map that we come across is wrong
  • 12. The Mercator Projection Theres actually a good reason behind that You see, our planet is a 3D object, whereas maps are always 2-dimensional In order for us to see and visualize the boundaries of countries and large land masses on the face of the Earth, we need a way to project all that 3- dimensional stuff onto a 2-dimensional piece of paper. Thats exactly what a Mercator map does
  • 13. A Mercator projection of the world It nicely represents physical features and land masses of the world on a rectangular sheet of paper, where latitudes and longitudes are straight lines that intersect perpendicularly and the shapes of countries are well-defined.
  • 14. A Mercator projection of the world However, apart from causing certain problems when it comes to the relative sizes of countries, the Mercator projection also distorts the path of the ISS on the world map
  • 15. Projecting the ISS orbit looks like a wave on a 2-D map The ISS orbit looks way because its path is aligned with the equator of our planet on a 2-D world map (for our visual convenience) The path of the ISS (and other artificial satellites) appears like a wave because its projected onto a 2- D screen, and not because artificial satellites follow a wavy path around Earth