Why satellites are important

Earth observation satellites and space science play an active role in improving the health of Canadians. Canadian satellites are providing information to help us monitor our waters and coastlines, protect them and guide ships. Satellites are part of our everyday lives, whether we know it or not. Here are 10 ways they've played a role in your day.

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May 19, at am. They allow us to make cellular phone calls from long distances. They provide us with a global positioning system GPS so that we know exactly where we are and we can find directions to anywhere we want to go.

They circle the earth and relay weather conditions and forecasts. The government uses them to spy on other countries in order to protect us. They are used for space research, which includes the SOHO satellites that observe the sun and provide us with early warnings of upcoming solar flares. These solar flares have been known to knock out various satellite communication links, which allow us to use our credit cards and to use beepers.

Satellites even monitor crops and tell farmers which fields need to be fertilized in order to produce healthy crops of corn and other foods. Even a screw or a bit of paint is considered an "artificial" satellite, even though these are missing these parts. A satellite is best understood as a projectile, or an object that has only one force acting on it — gravity.

Technically speaking, anything that crosses the Karman Line at an altitude of kilometers 62 miles is considered in space. However, a satellite needs to be going fast — at least 8 km 5 miles a second — to stop from falling back down to Earth immediately. If a satellite is traveling fast enough, it will perpetually "fall" toward Earth, but the Earth's curvature means that the satellite will fall around our planet instead of crashing back on the surface.

Satellites that travel closer to Earth are at risk of falling because the drag of atmospheric molecules will slow the satellites down. Those that orbit farther away from Earth have fewer molecules to contend with. There are several accepted "zones" of orbits around the Earth. One is called low-Earth-orbit , which extends from about to 2, km about to 1, miles.

This is the zone where the ISS orbits and where the space shuttle used to do its work. In fact, all human missions except for the Apollo flights to the moon took place in this zone. Most satellites also work in this zone. Geostationary or geosynchronous orbit is the best spot for communications satellites to use, however. This is a zone above Earth's equator at an altitude of 35, km 22, mi. At this altitude, the rate of "fall" around the Earth is about the same as Earth's rotation, which allows the satellite to stay above the same spot on Earth almost constantly.

The satellite thus keeps a perpetual connection with a fixed antenna on the ground, allowing for reliable communications. When geostationary satellites reach the end of their life, protocol dictates they're moved out of the way for a new satellite to take their place. That's because there is only so much room, or so many "slots" in that orbit, to allow the satellites to operate without interference.

While some satellites are best used around the equator, others are better suited to more polar orbits — those that circle the Earth from pole to pole so that their coverage zones include the north and south poles.

Examples of polar-orbiting satellites include weather satellites and reconnaissance satellites. There are an estimated half-million artificial objects in Earth orbit today , ranging in size from paint flecks up to full-fledged satellites — each traveling at speeds of thousands of miles an hour.

Only a fraction of these satellites are useable, meaning that there is a lot of "space junk" floating around out there. With everything that is lobbed into orbit, the chance of a collision increases. Space agencies have to consider orbital trajectories carefully when launching something into space.