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A view from the International Space Station in a low Earth orbit (LEO) at about 400 km (250 mi), with yellow-green airglow visible at Earth's horizon, where roughly at an altitude of 100 km (62 mi) the boundary between Earth and outer space lies and flying speeds reach orbital velocities.
Low Earth orbit (LEO): geocentric orbits with altitudes below 2,000 km (1,200 mi). [7] Medium Earth orbit (MEO): geocentric orbits ranging in altitude from 2,000 km (1,200 mi) to just below geosynchronous orbit at 35,786 kilometers (22,236 mi). Also known as an intermediate circular orbit.
The Japanese Space Agency, JAXA, launched its Super Low Altitude Test Satellite, or SLATS (“Tsubame”), in 2017, whose orbit slowly decreased from an initial altitude of 630 km (391 mi) to operate at seven different altitudes, from 271 km (168 mi) to a final altitude of 167.4 km (104.0 mi).
For a satellite to be in a stable orbit (i.e. sustainable for more than a few months), 350 km is a more standard altitude for low Earth orbit. For example, on 1 February 1958 the Explorer 1 satellite was launched into an orbit with a perigee of 358 kilometers (222 mi). [5]
Atmospheric pressure in low Earth orbit, around 500 km altitude [13] [14] 10 −7 Pa. 100 nPa Highest pressure still considered ultra-high vacuum [15] [16] 10 −6 Pa.
Super Low Altitude Test Satellite (SLATS) or Tsubame was a JAXA satellite intended to demonstrate operations in very low Earth orbit (VLEO, below 200 km), using ion engines to counteract aerodynamic drag from the Earth's atmosphere which is substantial at such lower orbital altitudes. It was launched on 23 December 2017, and decommissioned on 1 ...
Halley's Comet on an eccentric orbit that reaches beyond Neptune will be moving 54.6 km/s when 0.586 AU (87,700 thousand km) from the Sun, 41.5 km/s when 1 AU from the Sun (passing Earth's orbit), and roughly 1 km/s at aphelion 35 AU (5.2 billion km) from the Sun. [7] Objects passing Earth's orbit going faster than 42.1 km/s have achieved ...
For bodies in low Earth orbit, the most significant effect is atmospheric drag. Due to atmospheric drag, the lowest altitude above the Earth at which an object in a circular orbit can complete at least one full revolution without propulsion is approximately 150 km (93 mi) while the lowest perigee of an elliptical revolution is approximately 90 ...